A Christmas Story
by Maye Jr Morris
Summary: 21-year-old college student Bella Swan is lonely this Christmas having been stood up by a date. twenty-six days before Christmas she starts receiving gifts from a mysterious Secret Santa. Bella ‘s holiday spirit grows as she works to find out those closet to her is her Secret Santa is. STRONG LANGUAGE.
1. The Gift That Started It All

**_THE GIFT THAT STARTED IT ALL_**

 **Bella** 's heart nearly jumped out fo her chest the first time she saw him. She wasn't all that surprised, Edward Cullen was one of the hottest men on the New York University campus. Even now it felt like it was going to jump and he had stood her up on their date three months. She had a feeling that her heart would always jump a little bit when she spotted Edward as he walked across the quad.

Jacob one of her best friends (male best friend that is) since they were three-years-old was there to help her through the pain of being stood up. He stayed with her that night as the binged watch some random show she didn't care to watch. He locked her phone up so she couldn't repeatedly text Edward like she wanted to. She spends most of her time with Jacob now. In fact, they spent so much time together that a lot of their friends thought that they were dating. That would never happen for Bella as she only saw him as a brother, not boyfriend material.

Her female best friend happened to be Edward's little sister (by thirteen months) was Alice Cullen. Alice had been out of the country for a study abroad program for a semester when Edward stood Bella up. Bella never said anything to Alice because she didn't want to make things awkward. Bella had a feeling they would get awkward anyway since Alice was heading straight home from Paris this year while Bella was staying in New York.

Bella continued to watch as Edward took a seat next to his best friend Jasper Whitlock. This was third to last class before Christmas break. The professor (Professor Crossland) said that anyone looking to pass the class better show up or else you were likely to fail. He even mentioned in the last class that he might have an option for Extra credit. More students than normal showed up to class today because of that statement. There were about twenty extra students waiting for the professor.

"Sorry ladies and gents, my Uber got stuck in traffic. I guess the holiday season is the reason for that," Professor Crossland said as he strode into the classroom twenty minutes late. "I see that only a few of you chose to take the chance at extra credit, the rest of you, however, are always here."

There were quite a few grumbles as Professor Crossland continued to talk. Professor Crossland didn't care if you showed up to class or not, all you had to do was turn in the class work and take the final. Bella adjusted herself in her seat as she waited to see what the final project was. Professor Crossland had not included that in the syllabus he handed out during their first class.

"Professor Crossland, sir, what is it that you want us to do?" Jasper asked.

"Well, Mr. Whitlock your last class assignment will be to create a proposal for a charity." Professor Crossland said. "I would like you and your classmates to come up with a charity proposal over the next two weeks."

"Why a charity?"

"Because I want to see what research you can do." He replied. "Which is why I want you to include as much detail in your proposals as possible."

"Like what?" Bella asked. "Also are there any guidelines that you have for us?"

"I almost forgot about that, Ms. Swan." Professor Crossland replied.

Bella watched as the professor dug through his briefcase for a stack of papers and handed them to the student closest to him. He instructed that they take one packet and pass the stack on to the next student. It took them five minutes to get to Bella as she was the last one.

"Does that answer your question, Ms. Swan?"

"It does Professor Crossland," Bella replied. "And the charity can be anything?"

"You would be correct but there are some limits that are included in the guideline packet."

"Professor do we have to do the project on our own or could we work as a group or pair?"

"You may work by yourself, in a pair, or in a group but keep in mind that I will expect more from a group than I would from someone working by themselves." Professor Crossland said. "The more minds working on a proposal the more detail the proposal should include."

Bella started to make notes on what she might want her charity to be about as her classmates questioned their professor. There were several things she was quite passionate about but she wasn't sure if she could focus on just one of them in a charitable form. The page was filled with notes and bullet points and doodles before Professor Crossland let them go after wishing them a happy holiday.

Bella quickly packed up her bag and made sure that her metro card was in her front pocket. She made her way out of the building shed stop at the Chinese place down the block from her apartment for dinner and then head home to work on her proposal. She passed by Edward and Jasper talking to a pair of sorority sisters trying to get them to attend their Christmas party the day after classes ended, Bella didn't bother to stay and hear what Edward's reply was. If Edward was the type of man to go out with someone like her after standing her up he wasn't the type of man she would want to date.

She was almost to the subway stop when she heard Edward calling her name. Reluctantly Bella stopped and turned around to see what he wanted. Neither Jasper nor the girls were with him this time.

"Did you need something Edward or could I go home?"

"I just wanted to see if you would like to team up for the proposal for Professor Crossland's class," Edward replied.

"I prefer to work by myself thanks," Bella replied. "Why not work with Jasper, I'm sure he'd have no problem working with you."

"I wanted to work with you."

"I work alone unless the professor forces me to work in a team and Professor Crossland has not done that," Bella said. "I usually get stuck doing most of the work myself while my partner or partners just slap their name on to it because they wrote a single paragraph."

"Come on. You know I'd put in fifty percent of the work if not more. If I don't pass this class I won't get into med school until next fall."

"That's not my problem Edward. I have my own grades to worry about."

"Sorry, I didn't think of that. I guess I will go bug Jasper about it now." Edward replied.

Bella watched as Edward turned on his heel and headed back toward NYU. She could tell he was disappointed but she didn't really care and she did have her own grades to worry about if she wanted to get into Law School at least that is what she was thinking of doing now.

Bella got to the subway stop just in time to catch her train. On the ride home, she decided against Chinese food and settled for whatever leftovers she had in her fridge if her roommate hadn't eaten them yet. She took her notebook out to look at the notes she had made during class and went over them on the ride home.

Once she entered her apartment she dropped her books, keys, and coat off at the bench next to the door. She sat down and stripped her boots off and put them on the mat so the melted snow didn't get all over the place. She didn't hear her roommate so she assumed he hadn't made it home yet or was passed out in his bedroom, stoned from all the weed he smoked instead of working. She didn't bother to look for him and took her books to her room. before going to dig something to eat from the refrigerator. She settled on a slice of cold pizza from the night before and a can of coke.

Bella ate her dinner alone and started to research for her charity proposal. Her roommate still hadn't shown up. She decided to take a break and watch a holiday movie on the Hallmark channel's line up. She had no idea what it was about other than it contained a fictional royal family since it had Royally In the title. It was the sappy romantic type movie that you would expect from the Hallmark channel.

The movie was almost over (with the lovers having reunited after they were kept apart) when there was a hearty knock at her door. Bella got up and answered the door. It was a delivery man carrying a very large assortment of candy arranged to look like a large three-tiered cake.

"Where would you like me to set this?" the man asked.

"Over there will be alright," Bella replied as she signed for the candy.

After the delivery man left the envelope felt heavy in her hand. She debated on whether or not she should open it since she had no clue who would want to send her all this candy. She loved it and it certainly wasn't something that she would buy for herself. After debating for five minutes Bella ripped the envelope open to reveal a plain white card with a ring of poinsettias around the edge of the card and a short typed note in the middle.

 _For the girl that has captured my heart but has no clue. I hope this candy gets to you and this is the first of many gifts I have for you this holiday season._

 _Sincerely, Your Secret Santa_

Bella took the candy cake and placed it in her bedroom where her roommate couldn't get to it. it would be gone by tomorrow if he knew about it. She went out to the living room to catch the end of the movie only to find that the credits were rolling.

She decides to leave the TV on in the background as she continued the research for her proposal. She was so enthralled with her worst hat she didn't hear her roommate return even though the front door was in the same room as her.

"Hey, Bella could you move your crap to your room."

"Why should I?" Bella asked. "I was here first."

"Because the guys and I are going to watch the game."

"You are always wanting to watch a game and I thought baseball was over."

"It is we are watching a football game."

"Why don't you go to Paul's place and watch it there."

"Because his fiancé is throwing some kind of wedding shower tonight. Now clear out."

"It's my apartment to Jake. In fact, I am first on the lease and I pay the most."

"That is because you have the bigger room."

"Oh, that is a bunch of bull. My room is the exact same size as yours." Bella snapped.

She started to pack her things off of the coffee table and headed to her room. Once she was inside her room she tosses her stuff down onto the bed before turning back and slamming the door shut. She could hear Jake's obnoxious laugh after she slammed the door.

Bella he no idea why her childhood best friend mean-spirited now. He had been perfectly nice when he moved to New York seven months ago to help Bella out while Alice was studying in Paris. Bella was fed up. She pulled her door open and stomped back into the living room and pulled the plug to the television out making the screen go black.

"What the hell, Bella?" Jake asked.

"This is my home to Jake. I shouldn't have to move my study materials to my room just so you and your buddies can get drunk in front of the tv." Bella replied. "There are countless sports bars that you can go and watch the game at."

"Because I want to watch it in the comfort of my own home."

"It's my home to Jake and you've steamed rolled me ever since you got here yes you helped me through the Edward thing but that doesn't give you a free pass to be an asshole."

"How was I an asshole?" Jake asked.

"You barged in here like you are the only one that lives here and told me to move my stuff to my bedroom." Bella replied. "I was working on a project that could affect my grade jake."

"Come on Bella you are my best friend just let me watch the game."

"No, I want to study and work on my project while binging cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies."

"You have a tv in your room."

"But I can only spread out in the living room." Bella replied.

"Jake man let's head to my place. The bridal shower is next Friday not this Friday."

Bella was still a bit pissed off when Jake and Paul left the apartment five minutes later. She didn't like that she was mad over something as silly as who could use the living room. She went and curled up into a ball her proposal lay forgotten. She got up only to pull a few pieces of candy off of the candy 'cake' and binged on more hallmark christmas movies until she drifted off.

 **Edward** was tired he spend most of the day going to four out of his five classes and to the library after them to study and research for his final projects for all five of them. He was also a bit upset that Bella Swan didn't want a thing to do with him. She had texted him the night over their date saying that she was sick and couldn't make it. He didn't go out that night. He stayed home and planted the latest baseball game for the PlayStation4 until Jasper got home from his history class.

"Dude are you moping again?" Jasper asked taking his coat off.

"No." Edward replied without even looking at Jasper.

"Has Alice called yet?"

"She's calling back in fifteen minutes."

"Dang no time to take a shower." Jasper replied.

"No but you can change your clothes." Edward replied. "And douse yourself with a bottle of that cologne my sister makes you wear."

"Your sister doesn't make me wear anything I don't want to wear."

"Sure." Edward said. "Then why did you wear that gold shirt on Halloween that made you look like a male escort past his prime by like thirty years."

"I would gladly dress up as your sisters personal escort." Jasper replied as he wiggle his eyebrows.

Edward picked up a nearby throw pillow and threw it at him as hard as he could. Edward missed Jasper by a few inches and knocked over a pitcher of water he forgot to put back into the fridge. Edward jumped up and grabbed a mop from the storage closet and cleaned up his mess as Jasper laughed like a lunatic from his bedroom.

"Edward, hurry up your sister is calling." Jasper called.

"I know, I can hear the ring tone." Edward replied as he rung out the mop before putting it up. He placed the pitcher into the sink since it needed to be washed now that it had been on the floor. Edward then rushed over to the couch where he had his laptop set up.

"Nice to finally see you big brother." Alice said.

"Alice we talk every day."

"No we text every day we talk every other week and we FaceTime every two weeks."

"I can't help it that you spend most of the time talking to Jasper and or Bella."

"Well one is my boyfriend and the other is my best friend who just had her heart broken so I was trying to help her through that."

"But She doesn't have a boyfriend."

"Edward you can still get your heart broken without dating the person. It could even be your mom or dad that breaks your heart." Jasper said.

"How would you know?" Edward asked.

Jasper adjusted himself in his seat and told the story of his first love to Edward and Alice. His face grew redder with blush as he told the story. By the end of the story both Edward and Alice were laughing at him.

"Sorry Jasper, I know we all have a crush on a teacher at some point." Alice said once she calmed down. "Edward had a crush on our sixth grade history teacher Ms. Klein."

"Let me guess she was married," Jasper replied.

"No… Well kind of. She had a partner but announced they got married on facebook last year."

"You keep track of our teachers?" Edward asked.

"Only the ones that mean something." ALice replied.

"Oh."

"Okay Jasper what has my brother acting like a depressed without the makeup."

"He is head over heels in love with a girl that apparently doesn't want anything to do with him." Jasper replied. "He asked her out a while ago and then she called the date off saying she was sick but he says he saw her at the same place he was going to take her to with another guy."

"Okay does she even know how you feel about her?"

"No." Edward replied.

"Why the hell not?"

"Because I didn't get the chance to do so. That is why I asked her out."

"Oh my… you are such a freaking idiot Edward. Tell the girl how you feel."

"How she barely even talks to me."

"Send her a gift. In fact christmas is coming up send her multiple gifts. Like a twelve days of Christmas thing." Alice said. "It doesn't even have to be worth that much. Just something that you know she will love or that you think represents her and why you think that particular gift represents her."

"That sounds like a lot of work."

"All the work will be worth it if she is the one." Alice replied. "I better get off my. roommate is getting a…"

"No need to explain." Jasper said. "You are like seven hours a head of us."

"Goodnight and I will talk to you later."

Alice blew a kiss at Jasper before waving goodbye. A few seconds later the video went dark. Edward shut his laptop and sat further back on the couch.

"So what are you going to do?" Jasper asked.

"Take a walk." Edward said.

Edward walked over to where he toed off his shoes after coming home and pulled the back on. He slipped on his coat, gloves and hat he mumbled a goodbye to Jasper and walked out the door. He turned left at the corner and continued to walk until his legs got tired outside of an old time candy store. They had a fantastical winter display being put up in the window. He started to walk past the building but turned around after a second thought and entered the shop.

The shop was small. there were shelves along the left wall filled with shelves that were stuffed to the brim of every candy you could ever think of. The right wall and part of the back wall were filled with display cases with the stores own had made candy. In the center of the room were six bistro style tables with matching chairs.

Edward sat down at an open table and took the whole shop in. Alice would go nuts in here he's sure Bella would do the same if she knew about this shop. He was on is second pass of the shop when he spotted a small display of massive candy displays arranged like cakes. He spotted one that had all of Bella's favorite candy.

"See something you like?"

Edward nearly jumped out of his skin.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"No, it's fine, I didn't realize that you were done with the other client."

"I own the place and it never seems to slow down for me and they were just placing an order for New Years. Is there something I can help you with?"

"I guess I want one of these but I was wondering if it could be delivered today."

"Depends on what time you'd like it delivered."

"As soon as possible if that's alright."

"Of course. Would you like a message to be included with the item?"

"Yes, do you have something I could write it down on?"

"We have stationary for just this situation. Have a seat and I will bring it right out to you. Now which display were you looking at?" The shop owner said.

"The third one from the left." Edward replied.

"Okay. I'll get it ready after I get the stationary for you to write your note." The shop owner said. "How would you like to pay?"

"Debit." Edward replied.

Edward followed the woman over to the register and paid for what he wanted. It was slightly cheaper than he through it would be. Once he was done with paying Edward took a seat at the table he had left earlier. The shop owner quickly dropped the stationary by his table along with a pen before going off to help another client.

He thought about what to write for five minutes before he even put pen to paper. And once he put pen to paper it took him no time at all to get what he wanted to say out. He even thought up a few more ideas for gifts. He'd have to buy them online if he wanted to get them on time to give to Bella. He was going to make sure that she had a great Christmas this year even if she really did not want to be with him. He sealed his note up into the envelope provided and went to hand it over to the shop owner.

"Finally done?" she asked.

"Yes. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to say."

"You are not the first." The woman replied. "Good luck."

"Thank you." Edward replied.

Once he left the candy shop Edward quickly made his way home. He had a lot of work to do for school and for Christmas. Jasper was gone when Edward arrived. He'd left a note on the fridge saying he went to watch the game with one of his frat brothers.

Edward was happy that he was gone he wouldn't have Jasper silently judging him about what he was buying the whole time. Edward opened his laptop and settled in for a night of shopping and before he knew it he had bought everything he wanted to get and he had even gotten a gift for everyone in his family he was obligated to buy for.

Once his shopping was done he started in on his charity proposal project for Professor Crossland. He heard the guy was a little weird but he had signed up for the class anyway because he needed another credit or he wouldn't be able to graduate and apply to med school on time.

"Edward, dang it man wake up. You fell asleep on the couch again." Jasper said waking him up a few hours later. "You know what stay there but I don't want to hear you bitching about it in the morning ."

"Oh give me a break. You cry like a little baby when you wake up hung over." Edward replied. "Besides I heard you come in. I just didn't feel like moving."

"If you are moping about that girl again I am going to knock you one." Jasper replied pulling the throw blanket off of Edward. "Now come on man get to bed. You have to be up early for that thing at he hospital."

"Don't remind me."

"A doc who hates needles I don't see how that is going to work." Jasper replied.

"Simple, I don't care if they are being used on someone else. I hate when they are being used on me."


	2. Gift One

**_DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN TWILIGHT._**

 _rclaurel- Thank you for your review_

 _oopsadaze-There is a bit of foul play at play here. It will be revealed in time. And thank you for taking the time to review._

 _Sandy4321-Thank you for your review._

 _TWILIGHT1978- Thank you for your review._

 _Paula Anna- Thank you for your review._

 _It can not be said engough your reviews made me smile. I hope you enjoy this story as we Journey forward with Edward, Bella and their friends._

 _Sincerely MJM_

 ** _Edward_** was running late. He was late getting to the hospital but he had to drop off his first gift with the delivery service before ten in the morning or the gift wouldn't be delivered today and he wanted Bella to receive one gift a day leading up to Christmas Day. He had no idea what he wanted to get her for Christmas Day though. He just knew that it had to be extra special. 

"You sir are cutting it close." The sales clerk said. "Is this all you need to send out?"

"For today yes," Edward replied. "I might be back tomorrow but I have no idea what I'm going to do."

"Just remember that it has to be in here by ten or it will not be delivered and make that six for Christmas Eve."

"Thanks," Edward replied.

"Your welcome now check over this copy and make sure the address you want it delivered to is correct as well as who has to sign for it."

Edward took the clipboard and looked at the form. He didn't see anything wrong and handed it back to the clerk. He paid for the delivery (even included a tip for the delivery person) and quickly left the shop heading for the hospital. He really hoped that he wasn't too late.

Edward burst through the locker room door and shucked off his coat, hat, and gloves as well as the rest of the clothes to change into a pair of clean scrubs before heading to the staging area for the blood drive. They were also offering a test to figure out what someone's blood type is if they didn't know for free even if they didn't plan on giving blood. Most chose this because they were planning on donating a kidney or some other organ that had to have a compatible blood type and quite a few were upset to discover that they were not.

"Edward Thank god you are here. We are an hour behind on set up." the blood-drive coordinator said. "Can you set up the registration table and get people started on filling out the paperwork."

"Paperwork?" Edward asked.

"Yes, it helps us narrow down who is able to donate and who isn't." the coordinator replied. "We even pre-screen in other areas as well."

"I knew about the pre-screen but I didn't know about the paperwork."

"Have you ever donated?"

"No, I have a pathological fear of needles and refuse to let them touch my skin unless I absolutely need them too," Edward replied.

"Then why become a doctor?"

"I want to help people. I have no problem handling needles myself but having someone poke me with one scares the living hell out of me." Edward said. "I have no idea why it does though."

"Well I hope you at least try to overcome that fear today." the coordinator replied. "You could save three lives."

"I know and that is always in the back of my head."

The coordinator patted Edward on the shoulder and went back to work setting up the blood draw areas. Edward turned his attention to the registration area to set it up. All he had to do was take a set of the paperwork and place it on a clipboard and place the clipboard on the table for the donators to take. There were ten people waiting when he finished. He got them going on the paperwork.

He was yawning from the lack of sleep several hours later when Bella, Jasper and Bella's roommate Jake showed up to donate blood.

"Have you donated?" Bella asked.

"No," Edward replied. "I have been helping people with their paperwork all day."

"Well, you should if you ever get a break."

"You are not the first person to tell me that," Edward said.

"Well, you and Alice made me go bungee jumping even though I am afraid of heights like you are needles and I won't be the one egging you on as you did."

"That was Alice's birthday not mine. I would have gladly stayed on the ground as well but I lost a bet."

"Guess you shouldn't be betting then," Jake said. "Bells, he has more people to help."

"See you guys later," Edward mumbled.

Edward turned away from Bella, Jasper, and Jake to help other donators that came in. He was quickly distracted from Bella attention. He didn't see her again the rest of his shift. He was in the locker room changing back into his street clothes when he finished dressing quickly as what he believed a great idea came to mind.

It took him a while to get it done but it would be one gift Bella would get with several other items within the next couple of day.

"Now do you want her to know this was you?"

"No, I want to keep that to myself for now."

"Okay. It will be sent out later this week."

"Thanks," Edward replied.

Edward then went back to the locker room and collected his things and left the hospital. he would spend the rest of the night getting the next few gifts ready. He had gone to a local dollar store and gotten some decent looking gift wrap. He was in the middle of placing the gifts inside his closet when Jasper got home.

"Hey, your home. I thought that you would be at the blood drive all day."

"No, I only had a six-hour shift," Edward replied.

"Do you want to go get some wings?" Jasper asked.

"No I have to work on my proposal for Professor Crossland's class," Edward replied.

"Dude I have that done already."

"How? There is a lot of work involved in creating it."

"Because I made the same thing for my Eagle Scout project. I just updated the information to reflect today's financial landscape and it allowed me to show that my charity would work."

 ** _Bella_** Swan left the hospital after giving blood without the two men that had come with her. In fact, she hadn't seen Jake since before they started to fill out the paperwork. She last saw Jasper as they were leaving he was heading home to call Alice. She missed Alice as well but would call her on her own.

Bella arrived at her place of work five minutes early but to her boss, it was like she was five hours late on the biggest shopping day of the year. Bella just shrugged the mans comments off and went about doing her job. She didn't need it since her small trust fund for her dad's parents paid her rent but she didn't like spending that money unless she absolutely had to. It was something she and her dad argued about every month when it came time to pay her bills and the money was left untouched.

"ISABELLA you are filling everything wrong." Mr. Witherdale snapped.

"I'm sorry sir but I am doing it the same way you showed me five months ago," Bella replied. "And I assure you I am quite organized."

"Apparently not. This filing cabinet is in horrendous condition."

"That's row a. I'm working row C. I believe Jessica is working on row A. Perhaps you can speak about at your daily two o'clock meeting." Bella replied. "But why you need to have daily meetings with a simple file clerk is beyond me."

"That's because she wants to improve her work unlike you."

"It's the alphabet. She knows the alphabet since she was five years old how in the hell could she improve on knowing her ABCs?"

"That is out of line Ms. Swan. I will be putting a note in your file. Two more and you will no longer be employed here."

"Yes, sir," Bella replied calmly.

Bella was really sheathing inside at the man's comments. She would slap him up the side of the head if she knew that she could get away with it. She counted to ten and turned her attention to the filing cabinet she had been working on.

After about an hour and twenty minutes, she took a bathroom break. She was about to leave the stall when two coworkers walked in. They were talking about the boss and how hot he was compared to his counterparts in the other departments.

"Oh god, Jessica you are so lucky he chooses you."

"I know. He said he's going to leave his wife for me."

"You know that is a lie."

"Of course I do," Jessica said. "But that doesn't mean I can't get as much as possible out of him before the relationship ends."

"True. You know I still can't believe he was ever interested in Ms. Swan."

"I know right," Jessica replied. "We come from the same town. She's three years ahead of me."

"I never realized that."

"We better get back. It's almost two." Jessica replied.

Bella had remained still in the stall as Jessica and her friend talked. It angered her even more. She continued to listen and let out a great big sigh when the two women finally left the bathroom. She started to put a plan together.

She knew that Mrs. Witherdale liked to drop in on her husband for 'random' visits but were almost always scheduled and Bella decided to schedule one of those without Mr. Witherdale's knowledge and she knew just who could help her do it.

"Hey Angela, how would you like getting back at Mr. Witherdale?" Bella asked.

"Very much so," Angela replied. "How would we go about doing that?"

"Well, first we would call on Mrs. Witherdale and let her know that her dear husband would like to have a 'random' drop in."

"But we would have to put it into his appointment book."

"Yes, and Mr. Witherdale will see that he has an appointment with Jessica."

"Okay that is so simple I feel like an idiot for not seeing it," Angela replied. "When do you want the meeting to take place?"

"How about tomorrow?" Bella replied. "We will both be here and Jessica is always here at two even if she doesn't have to work because of those 'job improvement' meetings."

Bella sat next to Angela while she made the call to Mrs. Witherdale with a stack of files as cover. She could hear the woman on the other end of the line and she didn't sound too happy about being called in to visit him but told Angela that she would come in.

"Done," Angela said after hanging up the phone. "I just hope she doesn't say anything about it to him when he gets home tonight."

"Crap I didn't think about that. Good call on the fake name."

"I know right."

"I better get back to my filing cabinets," Bella replied. "Will I see you at the bar tonight?"

"Not planning on it, Ben's taking me out for our two year anniversary but we might stop by later."

"It's you're anniversary so I don't blame you," Bella replied.

Bella made her way back to the filling room and finished out the last three hours of her shift. She had to deal with Jessica making snide comments about her the whole time but it hadn't been for what she and Angela had planned tomorrow Bella would have quit. She rushed out of the office once the end of her shift came and hopped on the subway and headed for home to change her clothes before going to the bar.

"Hey, Bells you got a package today," Jake called from his room after hearing the front door open. "It's on the breakfast table."

Bella looked around the kitchen and spotted the small package wrapped in brown packaging paper and picked it up. There was only her address on the box. She ripped the paper off and found a shiny Christmas paper underneath the brown paper. She ripped the fancy paper off as well and opened the box using her keys. Inside the brown box were a deluxe label maker and several spools of label maker tape. Bella didn't remember ordering the tape but she remembered the label maker.

"So what is it?" Jake asked.

"The label maker I ordered a couple of weeks ago," Bella replied. "I didn't realize I would get it this soon. I think they got my order mixed up with someone else's."

"Call them tomorrow and see what is going on," Jake said. "Do you want to head out to the bar or are you going to stay in?"

"I'm going. I'm just going to change first." Bella replied.

The subway walk to the bar was a quiet one. Jake had kept asking Bella questions and was beginning to annoy her more than Mr. Witherdale did earlier. She was about to snap when they finally arrived at the bar. She took one of the shots that they were doing a taste test for and downed it before taking another and walking to the booth she and her friends usually sat in. Edward was already there with Jasper and one of Jasper's frat buddies and a blonde woman Bell had yet to meet.

"Bella you made it," Jasper said. "This is Emmet and his girlfriend and my sister Rosalie."

"She looks far too pretty to be related to you Jasper."

"Half sister," Rosalie said. "Same father different mothers. In fact, Jasper goes by his mother's maiden name."

"Well I didn't meet him until I was fourteen," Jasper replied.

"Not my fault," Rosalie said. "I didn't know about you until I was eighteen but my mother was a right witch when it came to you and your mother and she didn't even meet him until a year after you were born and long after your mom and our dad split."

"Enough talk about family drama," Edward said. "All that matters is you two know each other and you care so what If your moms don't get along with each other or your father."

"They almost never do," Bella said. "My dad has never liked any of my mom's boyfriends but I think he might like this latest one."

"Oh, why is that?" Edward asked.

"He an assistant manager for a minor league baseball team." Bella sliding into the booth by Rosalie.

"Oh, what team?" Emmet asked. "My coach told me I had some scouts at a few games last year."

"I honestly don't remember. They are based somewhere in Florida though." Bella replied. "His name is Phillip Dwyer I believe. I couldn't be sure my mom calls him her Philly when she talks about him."

"Sounds nauseating," Rosalie said.

"It is."

"Hello, I'm Wendy I will be your server this evening what can I get you all."

Edward took over and ordered a pitcher of beer and two platters of various fried food. Bella ate some of the food and had only one glass of beer because it tasted off to her. She switched to soda after she finished the beer.

The rest of the group was on a second pitcher of beer when Angela arrived with Ben. Angela was vibrating with so much excitement that she reminded Bella of Alice. Angela had dragged Ben over to the group.

"We are engaged," Angela announced before turning to Ben and kissing him on the cheek.

Everyone that heard her announcement congratulated them and clapped. Once the excitement calmed down everyone shuffled around in the booth making room for them. Jake grabbed two chairs from a nearby table for himself and Jasper.


	3. Gift Two

Bella woke up early the next morning so she could chat with Alice before going to do her errands before heading to work to see the results of the plan she and Angela put in place for Mr. witherdale yesterday. She had started out the door when she nearly kicked a box from in front of her door. She picked it up and saw that it was addressed to her and labeled with the number two written in the corner.

Bella went back inside to open the box. She couldn't find her letter opener and resulted in using her keys again. Once the box was open she pulled the card off the top and removed the Christmas themed packing material and found a personal library kit. The kit included Checkout card and pockets, date stamp, ink pad, and a pencil. There were extras of the checkout cards and pockets included. Bella set the library kit aside and opened the card that featured a Christmas tree of books on the cover. Inside was blank except for a single handwriting note.

 _ **So you can keep an official record of your ever-expanding library. ~Your Secret Santa.**_

She repacked the gift and set it on the desk in her rooms before heading out the door again. This time she made it and wasn't surprised by another gift. She had twenty minutes to make to get her Sunday morning coffee and bagel and make it back to her place in time for Alice's call. Her usual bagel place was closed for renovations after a pipe burst.

She heard the notification bell ringing on her laptop the moment she stepped into the apartment. She ran through the apartment to her room and threw herself in her chair and clicked the green accept circle.

"Took you long enough," Alice greeted. "Where were you?"

"I went to get food," Bella replied. "Like I do every Sunday morning."

"I know so how is everyone?" Alice asked. "And I do mean everyone."

"Jasper is doing the best out of everyone, even though he misses you a great deal," Bella replied. "Edward seems a little distracted and Angela is engaged."

"Sweet little Angela is engaged?" Alice asked.

"Yes. Ben proposed last night during their anniversary dinner," Bella said.

"Now the ring?"

"I didn't get a good look at It but it looked rather simple which is what Angela likes."

"That is all that matters. I would have settled for a ring pop when I was eight."

"I always wanted the emerald ring my great grandma was buried with," Bella replied. "I didn't know she had been buried with it and thought that someone had stolen it."

"I remember that it took your dad hours to calm you down."

Bella opened her mouth to say something but closed it again when the thought left her mind. She took a long sip of coffee before Alice got the hint.

"Bella, how are you doing?" Alice asked.

"I am fine. I just wish I had my real roommate back," Bella replied. "It's gotten kind of awkward with Jake. I think he wants something more but I.. I don't like him like that, like at all."

"But there is someone isn't there? And my guess is that he already has someone to be his special someone this holiday season."

"There is an awkwardness between us. I have thought about trying to fix it but part of me doesn't even want to try because he's already chipped my heart once." Bella replied. "And I don't want to give him another chance to do it again."

"Then how did he chip your heart?"

"He stood me up and hasn't even tried to contact me about." Bella replied, "But we still talk in person which makes things even more awkward."

"So the guy doesn't have a girlfriend."

"Not that I know of," Bella replied. "I don't see any significant female hanging around him."

"Bella you have to tell him. It's the risk of getting your heart broken that makes finding love so worth it. Have I ever told you how Jasper and I got together?"

"No that is the one thing you kept to yourself."

"Well settle in honey its story time for you." Alice replied."I'm going to get myself some tea."

Bella made herself comfortable and leaned back in her chair and waited for Alice to begin her story. Two minutes later Alice appeared back on the screen with a large cup of tea.

"You were there when Jasper and I first met. He was still hooking up with Maria or one of her sisters I can't remember which one and I was head over heels in love from the moment I saw him step through the door." She took a sip. "It got so awkward between us that I started to avoid him and Edward because they hung out a lot. I even dated to get my mind off of him but nothing worked."

"What did you do?" Bella asked.

"I finally came to the conclusion that I had to put on my big girl underwear and tell him how I felt even if he didn't feel the same about me," Alice said. "I then heard they broke up and chose not to speak up then because I didn't want to the rebound girl. I wanted to be the forever girl."

"When did you tell him how you felt?" Bella asked.

"Two weeks after they broke up. I couldn't keep it in anymore and when I bumped into him one day outside of the library I blurted it out." Alice said. "I then turned on my hell and ran out of there."

"How did you start dating then?"

"He showed up at my place later that night. It was before you moved in and told me that he broke up with her because he had feelings for me and knew it wasn't right to act on them while with her."

"Smart of him."

"I know and we have been together ever since," Alice said. "Hey, what is that three-tier thing behind you."

"A candy cake," Bella replied. "My secret Santa sent It to me on Friday, I have no idea who it could be though."

"Holiday mystery just in time for Christmas," Alice said.

"Speaking of Christmas when are you coming home?" Bella asked.

"I fly into New York on the seventeenth and then fly to Washington on the eighteenth with Edward and Jasper," Alice replied. "I wish you were going with us."

"I have to work," Bella replied. "Speaking of work I have to get going or I will be late and I would rather not deal with a grumpy Mrs. Witherdale."

"I can't believe that you still work for him. He a horndog who still thinks its okay to sexually harass women and some men if he has enough to drink."

"Oh, I forgot about that. Christmas party the year we both worked there right?"

"Yep," Alice said. "I guess I will let you go."

"By Alice," Bella replied.

Bella quietly made her way to work. Mr. Witherdale was nowhere to be found when she arrived. Bella stopped off at Angela's desk to see what was going on.

"I have no idea what is going on. He left five minutes ago in a huff." Angela said. "I think he said something about coffee but you know how he mumbles when he gets mad."

"Okay, I better get to the file room before he gets back. See you at lunch." Bella replied.

Angela nodded and turned her attention back to her computer. Bella, of course, turned to go down the hallway that led to the file room. She checked the assignment sheet and saw that she was working the section that Jessica had been working on yesterday and Jessica had been assigned the row she was working on.

Jessica and had walked in ten minutes after Bella acting like she owned the place. Bella took a deep breath to keep herself from smiling at the crap storm that was sure to come Jessica's way. Bella continued working until just before two o'clock claiming she was taking her lunch break.

She and Angela took up seats in a small alcove just down the hallway from Mr. Witherdale's office. It gave them the perfect view and employees were allowed to eat lunch there. They sat a little straighter once they saw Jessica walk pass them and into Mr. Witherdale's office.

They only had to wait five minutes for the cover music to start and five more after that for Mrs. Witherdale to arrive. She made a beeline for her husband's office like she always did. She stopped just outside the door and straightened up her coat and knocked on the door. There, of course, was no answer as her husband was quite distracted. After knocking three more times Mrs. Witherdale called for the maintenance staff to unlock the door.

The man took his time coming because he knew what was going on and didn't want to hurt Mrs. Witherdale but the woman insisted that he open the door. The man did as he was told and pushed the door open once it was unlocked. And there in full view of the whole office was Jessica going down on Mr. Witherdale.

Mrs.Witherdale calmly walked into the office.

"I think it's time for you to get back to work Ms. Stanley." She said.

Jessica jumped up from what she was doing nearly biting Mr. Witherdale in the process. Bella snickered. Mr. Witherdale let out a gasp of pain.

"So this is your latest slut?" Mrs. Witherdale asked.

"It's not what it looks like Victoria," Mr. Witherdale said.

"Oh that is the biggest load of crap you have ever spilled and you know James," Victoria replied. "She half you're age and the same age as our daughter. Do you know how disgusting that is?"

"Please, Victoria let's talk about this when I get home tonight."

"You won't be coming home tonight. Your bags will be waiting on the veranda for you." Victoria said. "I will be heading to my lawyer from here. I knew about the others as well. Each and every one of them was willing to send me pictures of the two of you after you decided you were done with them."

She turns towards the audience she and her husband and drawn in.

"If any of you ladies would be willing I would like statements from each of you about what you've seen here today. You can contact Arther Bennington at Bennington Bennington Law offices."

After she made her statement Victoria left the office with her head held high. She even got a few claps on her way out. Bella through that she might have seen a slight smile appear on the woman's face as she walked out of the office for what may be the very last time.

"If any of you ladies even think about writing a statement for my soon to be ex-wife you will be out of a job faster than a penny dropped from the Eiffel Tower." Mr. Witherdale replied.

"You know I think I'm going to quit," Bella whispered to Angela.

"I would be with you but I need to pay my rent. They just hiked it up again." Angela replied.

"Come to stay with me. I have a storage area that I never use. you can store the stuff of yours that won't fit and I never got a bed bigger than a twin because it seemed stupid to get something bigger for a small apartment." Bella replied. "Or you and Ben could move in together. You are engaged after all."

"So very true. I will have to talk with him about that tonight." Angela replied. "Well, that and the possibility of me quitting my job."

"I don't think that he will have a problem with it if you tell him about Mr. Witherdale and his behavior around the women here."


	4. Gift Three

"What are you doing home? I thought you had to work today?" Jake said coming in from his latest gym session.

"I quit," Bella replied sovereign another spoon of cereal in her mouth.

"Why?"

"Because my boss was a slimeball," Bella replied. "Why do you care?"

"You're my friend that's why," Jake replied.

"You never cared what I did before," Bella replied.

She took her bowl to the sink and cleaned it before going into the bathroom to take a quick shower. She was drying off when the doorknob started to rattle. Someone was trying to get Into the bathroom. She quickly changed into the clothes she had brought into the bathroom with her.

She didn't see anyone as she left the bathroom but she could hear Jakes sound system blaring. They were likely to get a noise complaint from the neighbors later today, they always did.

Bella went to her room and packed a bag for glass. She stopped at Jakes door on the way out.

"Jake, did you try getting Into the bathroom?" Bella asked.

"No," Jake replied. "Why do you ask?"

"The doorknob started to rattle while I was drying off."

"Nope. I've been in my room the whole time waiting for you to leave so I can wash the gym stank off." Jake said.

"Have fun," Bella replied before leaving the apartment.

There was no gift waiting for her today but it was early and there was no point in getting her hopes up about getting a present when so many people get nothing. She got to her class five minutes late because the subway train got stuck on the tracks before her stop and she had to take a cab instead. She took a seat at the back of the class just as the professor started their lecture.

"So now for your final assignment before the final test is to take a song or some other written work from years ago that would not be considered appropriate for today's audiences and make it appropriate for today's audiences."

"Professor could it be a response to a song from years ago or does it have to be the song it's self rewritten?"

"Ms. Bourdon you must make that choice yourself and the grade will depend on how your classmates' rate in our next class."

Bella already knew what song she was going to do.

"Professor Lynn when is this assignment due?" Bella asked.

"Midnight the day before our next class so I have time to read over them myself and to print out copies for the students to read." Professor Lynn replied. "If they are turned in any later than twelve am they will not be accepted and I will not read it or print it so turn them in on time now class dismiss."

Bella left the class and headed for the library. She could knock this assignment out in no time. She just wanted to research the song a little bit before rewriting it to today's standard. She had worked so long that she was still there when the library started to close down. The librarian had to rush her out telling her to finish her class assignment at home and to come back in the morning if she really needed to use the library.

Jake was vegging out in front of the living room tv when she got home. She nodded in his direction and headed to her bedroom. She dropped her bags by her desk and went to use the bathroom. When she went back to her room she saw a portable laptop desks sitting on her bed with her laptop on top of it.

"Jake can you come here for a second," Bella asked.

"What do you need me to do change the lightbulb?" Jake asked.

"No, did you put that there?" Bella replied.

"It was delivered sometime after you left. I thought that you finally ordered one like you have been talking about." Jake said. "I took it out of the box and set it up for you."

"I didn't order it. Are you sure it was for me?"

"Yeah the guy said he had a delivery for Isabella Swan." Jake replied.

"There wasn't a card or anything in the box or on it."

"No. Not a thing." Jake replied.

"Must be another mistake." Bella said.

"Is that all you wanted?"

"Yes." Bella replied.

Jake left her alone after that. Bella took a closer look at her knew desk. It would defiantly make it easier to study in bed or write papers well into the night on the living room couch. There was a drawer for a mouse and what ever else you may have stored in or on your regular desk just at a smaller scale. She was pleasantly surprised to see the sections for the office supplies like post-its, paper clips, pens, and other items filled with said items. She pulled her book bag over to her and took her books out and began to study for each of her various finals. She didn't stop studding until it was well past midnight. She hadn't even stoped to eat dinner. If she got hungry she would just pick a piece or two off of her candy cake and ate them before she continued studying. If she didn't ace her finals she was sure to get a high B on them with all of the studying she was doing.

After the clock struck one Bella put her books away and climbed underneath the covers. She turned on her tv to give her some background noise to fall asleep to. It didn't take her long to fall asleep but she woke up hours later from no where when she heard a crash coming from the kitchen. Quite mad, she throws the covers off of her and stormed into the kitchen to see Jake digging around in the cabinets.

"What in the hell are you doing?" Bella asked.

"I'm looking for a pizza pan so I can heat it up." Jake said.

"It's five o'clock in the morning use the dang microwave." Bella snapped. "Or better yet get to bed."

 **When** Edward's alarm went off on the morning of December third he did not want to get out of bed but he had to. He had a four hour chem lab that day and he couldn't miss it or he would risk failing the class. Edward did not want to fail because he wanted to get to med school on time. He wanted to be like his dad and help people. He wanted to be able to go to Africa where the medical care was sub-par and help as many people as he possibly could.

And so with those thoughts in his mind Edward reaches out from under the covers and turns the alarm off. He lays still for a few more minutes before finally throwing the covers off of himself and heading for the bathroom. He spotted jasper sitting up at his desk through the crack in his bedroom door.

He climbed into the shower and took what Jasper called a navy shower. He didn't know that's what his shower was called he's just always done it that way so the soap didn't wash off of him before he made sure the soap was everywhere. After showering Edward made a quick breakfast and even took a bagel and threw it at Jasper since he knew his friend wasn't likely to make himself anything until well after noon. He didn't know how but his friend alwayss seemed to know when he was going to throw something at him and caught the bagel before it could hit him in the head.

"Dang it Jasper that would have been a good shot." Edward replied.

"Try better next time." Jasper replied. "Good luck."

"It's a chem lab. It'll be easy." Edward said.

"You say that now but I know your mind was working over time like a hamster on a never-ending hamster wheel."

"My brain is bigger than a hamster," Edward said. "I should be back in time for lunch if the lecturer portion doesn't go over too long."

"Text me when you are on your way so I can let your sister know when to expect your call."

"She's obsessed," Edward said.

"Only because you refuse to tell her who you are in love with," Jasper said. "Speaking of that why haven't you told me who it is?"

"Because Jasper, you will take your big blabbermouth and spill my secret to my sister. Now leave it alone."

"Fine, I give up. I surrender." Jasper said.

"I'll be back after class," Edward said. "We can go try out that new pizza bar."

Jasper having already turned his attention back to his computer nodded in agreement eating the bagel Edward threw at him as he did so. Edward returned to his bedroom to grab his bags and everything he needed for the class that wouldn't be waiting for him in the classroom.

Edward was the first one to arrive for the lecture portion of his chem lab which was a whole separate hour from the actual chem lab and you had to attend the lecture to be allowed into the lab portion. Edward found the lecture a bit repetitive but continued to listen like he always did. He even answered two of the professor's questions when he asked them.

"Your partner for the lab portion of today is listed on a sheet pinned to the board outside of this classroom." the professor said. "I will see you in the lab in fifteen minutes and no there will be no switching unless I am legally obligated to give you a different one."

Edward waited until the mass exodus of the room had begun. He had fifteen minutes to get to the lab so he had a few minutes to spare so he could see who his partner for today was. He was pleasantly surprised to see Ben from the other night listed next to him.

"Edward right?" Ben asked after reading the sheet for himself.

"Yes, you're the guy who's engaged to Bella Swan's friend."

"That's me," Ben said. "I intended to propose on New Years at the stroke of midnight but with the ring in my pocket I couldn't wait."

"At least you had a ring."

"Only because I picked it up that day," Ben said. "We really should talk about who's going to work on which solution."

"I figured one of us could do A and C and the other one could do B and D," Edward said. "It's easier that way and we each get a resting period for part of the lab."

"I can do that," Ben replied. "I took this class last semester and I was paired with this guy who didn't help with anything unless the professor was watching us and that was hardly ever."

"If you took the class last year why are you taking It again?" Edward asked.

"I wanted a better grade. I barely squeaked by with a C and I need an A."

"Med school?" Edward asked.

"Yes. I plan to get a degree in psychology but who knows what med school will bring," Ben replied. "My dad did the same thing over twenty-six years ago expecting to become a cardiologist and ended up becoming a pediatric oncologist."

"I don't think I could handle that but I could see myself being a pediatrician," Edward replied. "I think we should head over to the lab."

Ben followed Edward from the lecture all across campus to the chemistry labs. They found their assigned table and began to set up for the various experiments they would be performing today. They were the first duo to be set up completely by the time the professor arrived.

"Are you all ready?" The professor asked.

Only a few of their fellow students replied that they were ready.

"Do the rest of you at least have the first experiment set up?" He asked. "If you don't you have five minutes to set up if you are not ready you may catch up with us later."


	5. Gift 4

Bella spotted Edward at his usual booth. He was drunk and half asleep mumbling to the bartender as the man tried to wake him up. Bella watched as the bartender left Edward alone to let other people know that the bar was shutting down for the night. The other customers left while Edward alone remained in his booth nursing his last drink.

Bella decided that Edward wouldn't be able to make it home on his own and Jasper did ask her to get Edward home. Bella stopped at the entrance of the bar as Edward was approached by the bartender again.

"Edward man it is one in the morning. The bar is closing."

"Sorry man yesterday was a hell of a day," Edward replied.

"I know that buddy but you can't stay here," the bartender replied. "Do you need me to call you an Uber?"

"There is no need. I can get him home. His roommate called and let me know Edward wasn't home yet and he wasn't answering his phone."

"And who are you?" The bartender asked.

"I'm his little sisters best friend," Bella replied. "Names Bella by the way."

"Well, Bella could you please get him safely home." The bartender said. "I just know I would get shut down if I let him leave on his own."

"I have no problem making sure he makes it home. We live in the same building but only two floors apart," Bella replied. "Does he have a tab that needs to be paid or is he good to go."

"No, he paid for his drinks as he went. I stopped serving him hours ago, I have no idea why he didn't leave."

"I don't know why either but I do know he loves this place for some reason."

Bella looped Edward's arm around her shoulders and hoisted him to his feet so he could walk. They had to walk home as the track that led to the station down the block from their building was shut down for general maintenance. It was tiring to get Edward home as he wanted to zig while she wanted to zag. He even tripped a few times nearly falling on his face. She got some odd looks from people that were still out on the streets at one in the morning.

Bella knew she wouldn't calm down until she had Edward in the elevator to take him up to his floor. The elevator was old and slow as heck so Bella didn't bother with it most days but there was no way she was going to drag Edward up eight flights of stairs and down the long freaking hallway just to hand him off to Jasper. She'd toss him on the couch before that would happen.

"Edward stop trying to get away. If you walk away from me you will fall flat on my face." Bella snapped after Edward zigged one too many times.

"I'm trying to get home. I have to get her present ready." Edward said.

"I'm helping you get home, so stop fighting me or I will leave you here for the cops to find."

"You wouldn't do that," Edward replied. "You love me too much."

"I don't love you very much at all at the moment," Bella said. "What made you drink so much tonight?"

"I saw the girl I love kissing someone else," Edward said. "There is no hope for us."

"Have you told her how you felt."

"She won't let me talk to her," Edward said a couple of times in a row.

"You should keep trying unless she's called the cops on you."

"I don't think she has."

"Hey, look at that, we are almost home," Bella said when their building came into view.

Edward drunkenly tried to run up to the building and fell to the ground. Bella rushed over to him and checked him over. Once she was sure he was okay she pulled him up to his feet once more and ushered Edward inside the building and then the elevator. He slumped against the elevator wall and fell asleep. The elevator started to shake as it moved up to Edwards floor and woke Edward up in the process.

"Bella I thought you hated the elevator," Edward said.

"I do but I have to make sure you get home."

"Oh," Edward said. "You know you look pretty."

"Thanks but I look like hell," Bella replied.

She looked at her reflection in the mirrored surface of the elevator doors. She was in jeans, a t-shirt and a coat so old that she was surprised she still fit into it.

"You're wrong," Edward replied.

"What?" Bella asked.

Edward has stood up straighter and moved to stand in front of Bella.

"I said that you were wrong," Edward replied.

"What in the heck am I wrong about?"

"You don't look like hell," Edward replied. "You actually look quite beautiful."

"Your drunk what do you know," Bella replied.

"I know my own mind," Edward said.

"And your own mind is fogged up with all the beer you drank tonight."

"Oh, how wrong you are," Edward replied before taking a couple of steps closer to Bella. "I don't think I have ever seen you more wrong than you are now."

And before Bella could step out of the way Edward's lips were on hers with his hands on either side of her face. Bella let it go for a few seconds longer but then pushed Edward away. The elevator chose that moment to stop and open it's doors as Edward turned away from Bella and expelled everything from in his stomach into the corner of the elevator before leaving it. Bella quickly followed him to make sure that he would make it home.

Bella knocked on the door and waited for Jasper to open the door.

"Thanks for bringing him," Jasper said.

"Your welcome. You can thank me by cleaning up his mess in the elevator." Bella replied.

"You know I would just add to it."

"Should have gone to get him yourself," Bella replied. "I can provide the cleaning supplies if you need them."

"No, I have them here," Jasper replied. "Is there anything else I need to know about?"

"Nope," Bella replied. "You know everything. The bartender said he didn't have a tab going and that he cut him off hours ago, but with how drunk he is I am not sure how true that is."

"I'll put water and Tylenol on his nightstand," Jasper replied.

"I'll head out now. Don't forget the mess."

"You know that I won't forget,"

Bella was quick to get down the hallway to the stairs and down to her own apartment. She was quite prepared to kick Jake out of the bathroom so she could soak for an hour if not longer in the tub. She thankfully didn't have to even talk to him when she got home. She relaxed in the tub for about an hour before Jake came home. She was in her room binging on some Netflix show when Jake showed up also drunk. Bella pushed Jake into his room and left him alone she was done dealing with drunk men for the night. She needed to get some sleep if she wanted to get to Professor Crossland's class on time.

When Bella woke up the next morning Jake was gone again and there was a box of cinnamon rolls sitting on the counter next to a Green Apple colored kitchen aid stand mixer with a big red bow attached. There was a red envelope taped to the top of the cinnamon roll box. She picked up the envelope and ripped it open as neatly as she could and pulled the card free once the envelope was open. The card had a picture of a box striped like a candy cane with cookies and brownies of all kinds spilling out of the top of the box with the boxes lid resting up against them with a tag attached to it that said Merry Christmas in fancy script. She opened the card and found a short handwritten message.

 _ **Nothing says Christmas like baking cookies with the family. I hope you think of me as you use this mixer to make your Christmas cookies this year. ~Your Secret Santa**_

Bella was shocked that someone would give her something this expensive as a gift. She looked up the laptop desk the other day and it was worth almost a hundred bucks and who knew what the other gifts costed. She loved the ones that she has gotten so far but she didn't feel all that comfortable about them spending so much money on her when there was no guarantee that she would even like who was sending them.

She ate two of the cinnamon rolls changed into street clothes packed her bag for class. Jake arrived after that carrying two to-go cups of coffee.

"Hey, your up. Do you feel up to coffee?" He asked.

"I do but I can't stay. I have a class to get too." Bella replied.

She blew past him carrying her bag and the box of cinnamon rolls out the door leaving Jake to stare after her. Bella noticed a sign on the elevator as she walked past it heading for the stairwell. She stopped to read it.

 ** _Attention Building Residents!_**

 ** _The elevator is offline until further notice._**

 ** _It should also be noted that if you make a mess_**

 ** _in the elevator clean it up. Your fellow residents_**

 ** _shouldn't to have to clean up after you._**

Bella knew why that was there but she was surprised someone put it up so quickly. She shrugged it off and continued on to the stairs. She figured that Jasper had gone back to bed instead of cleaning up Edward's mess.

The lecture hall was nearly full when she arrived. Bella sat at the back of the class. Away from where she normally sat. She set the cinnamon rolls on a nearby desk and set up her notebook and pens to take notes during the lecture. She was ready to go when Jasper and Edward showed up fifteen minutes later.

"Thanks for last night," Jasper said.

"No problem. I was already out. Did you forget to clean the elevator?"

"No, I was in the process of cleaning it when the landlord showed up," Jasper replied. "He had been heading up to the tenth floor to repair the heater in one of the apartments."

"So no extra trouble for you."

"Nope."

"So how has Edward been this morning?" Bella asked.

"Grumpy," Jasper replied. "I barely got him here."

"Make him eat one of these," Bella said picking up the box of cinnamon rolls.

Bella could have sworn she saw something in Jasper's eyes flash but It was gone in the next. So she had no idea who it was.

"What made you stop to get these?" Jasper asked.

"I didn't buy them. I have a secret Santa that is sending me gifts and these were part of today's gift."

"And what is today's gift if you don't mind my asking," Jasper said.

"A green apple colored kitchen aid stand mixer," Bella replied. "I think the first thing I will use for is building my annual gingerbread house but it could honestly be anything."

"I will gladly be your taste tester if you need one," Jasper said.

"I'll be sure to let you know," Bella replied. "You could at the very least help me decorate cookies if you want."

"I do miss doing that with my grandma," Jasper replied. "Looks like Crossland is about to begin his lecture."

"Fun." Edward snipped sarcastically.

"Quiet," Bella said.

Edward went to say something but never got the chance as Bella took the chance to shove a cinnamon roll into his mouth to shut him up. Edward ate it but didn't try to speak to Bella again. The lecture was a short one compared to previous lectures and was more like a review of what would be on the final but Bella still took notes on what Professor Crossland said. By the time Professor Crossland had finished Edward was a bit nicer in attitude.

"Edward, what do you remember about last night?" Bella asked once class was over.

"Not much. I vaguely remember getting sick in the elevator but not much else." Edward replied. "But I have a feeling that I missing something important. Jasper said you helped get me home is there anything I need to know?"

Bella thought about telling him about the kiss but decided not to. She felt that if he was meant to remember kissing her he would.

"So Is there?" Edward asked.

"No," Bella replied. "You didn't do or say anything major."

"Well, thanks. If you do remember anything please let me know."

"Sure," Bella replied

She parted ways from Jasper and Edward. She had baking ingredients to buy. She was going to cheer herself up by making Christmas cookies. She may call Jasper later to help her decorate but she wasn't sure.

Edward was a bit worse for wear. Jasper had to push and pull to get him to do anything other than lounge around on the couch watching Bar Rescue on repeat. He was no watching a movie on TNT waiting for Jasper to get back with lunch so they could eat before calling his sister.

"Hey man, Luciana's pizza was closed down so I stopped at the place down the block."

"As long as you go my veggie pizza."

"Yes even though you end up eating half of my meat lovers pizza."

"More like bacon lovers," Edward replied.

"I love bacon and I won't lie about it," Jasper said. "But I do have a question for you."

"What is it?" Edward asked.

"That box of cinnamon rolls Bella had they were from the bakery that you dragged me to yesterday."

"There were," Edward said.

"She's the girl you are in love with," Jasper stated.

"She is but I don't think she feels the same way about me," Edward replied. "These gifts are the last ones I will get her. If it doesn't work out. Then I will just have to move on even if it hurts."

"Get it together. You have to do more than give her a gift here or there you have to make her feel like she is your whole world." Jasper said. "Took me six months to get that through your sisters thick head."

"Does she know you say about that about her."

"She said it first now eat up so we can call her," Jasper said.


	6. Gift 5

**Bella** was dog tired she spent the day putting in applications at every spot that had an opening for something she was interested in. It was only a few days since she had quit her job with Mr. Witherdale she was already going crazy staying at home most of the day. She had even been sent a link to a job opening in a publishing firm but she wasn't sure if she wanted to take it.

She heard the floor creak outside her bedroom and looked up from her laptop but didn't see anything out of her bedroom door. She threw the throw blanket she had covering her legs off and went to see if Jake had finally come home from the bar. He wasn't there. She was home alone again. She opened the linen closet and grab the baseball bat her dad put there the last time he visited her in the city which was last year before he got married to her new step-mother who she had yet to meet in person. The woman she talked to on the phone seemed quite nice and Bella could n't wait to meet her.

Bella set the bat next to her bed and tucked herself back in. She finished all of her assignments and sent them off to their respective professors and studied a bit in each subject so she wouldn't fail the finals that were coming up.

 **Edward** Cullen was up early. He had gotten up to finish his last chemistry final and then had an interview at a local hospital for a summer internship where he would basically be an orderly that got to sit and watch surgeries from the observation room. He was lucky that the man happened to be in New York visiting his Grandchildren for Christmas.

Edward would have left already but he had to get his latest gift for Bella to her apartment before she left for the day. He took the generic box and set it down on the welcome mat outside her front door. He knocked as hard (but politely) as he could and ran down the hallway to the stairwell. He watched as Bella's roommate Jake opened the door and looked around before picking up the package before taking it inside the apartment and closing the door.

Edward turned away from Bella's doors and made his way out of the building. He made it to the school in time to finish his final. He was paired up with Ben Cheney again for the practical part of the final. The practical took two hours with various experiments to be done during that period. There were multiple ways for someone to fail this part and Edward was nervous that he would slip and end up doing anyone one of them. His nerves didn't calm down until he exited the lab at the end of the final.

"Hey man, you want to get a drink?"

"Maybe later. I have an interview in twenty minutes," Edward said. "It'll take me that long with all the traffic to get there. We can meet tonight if you want to."

"Can't, Angela and I are telling her parents about the engagement now that they have come to visit," Ben replied.

"Oh, good luck with that," Edward replied. "That's my Uber."

"See you later man," Ben replied before going off in the other direction.

Edward climbed into the back of the Uber and settled in.

"Excuse sir where are you headed today?" the driver asked.

"Give me a second to look it up," Edward said as he pulled out his phone.

Once Edward found the address he was headed he flipped his phone and showed it to the driver. Who nodded and put the car in gear once Edward buckled himself in. Edward made it to his interview with five minutes to spare.

"Excuse me I'm looking for Dr. Martian Burrell-Carter."

"And who might you be?" The receptionist asked.

"I'm Edward Cullen and I'm here for an interview."

"You may have a seat over there and I'll see If Dr. Burrell-Carter is alright to see you," The receptionist replied.

Edward sat down in one of the few open chairs the reception area had and waited for the receptionist to come back and she didn't come back for ten minutes. She went right back to work at the desk and didn't say a single thing to Edward about his interview.

"Excuse me, Miss I'm supposed to have an interview today with Dr. Burrell-Cater is he in or do I have to schedule it another time."

"And you are?" She asked like she hadn't just talked to him fifteen minutes ago.

"Edward Cullen, and I am here for a job interview with Dr. Burrell-Carter."

"Oh, that's you, you can go on in. Take a left at the end of the cubicles and Mr. Burrell-Carter is in the last office on the right."

"Thanks," Edward replied.

Edward walked through the office. He thought that it was quite weird to be meeting a doctor in an office building but who knew what other business ties the man had. He found the office the receptionist told him to go to but there was no one inside.

"Are you Mr. Cullen?" An older man asked.

Edward assumed that this man was Dr. Martian Burrell-Carter

"Yes sir, I'm Edward Cullen." Edward replied, "If you don't mind sir why did you request that I meet you here?"

"My brother needed me to sign some papers for the family company." Dr. Burrell-Carter replied. "I am quite happy to say my attention is now solely on my medical practice."

"I thought that you were the head of a hospital," Edward said.

"I was until it became too much for me to handle so I opened a private practice, which has allowed me to spend more time with my growing grandchildren."

"I can't fault you for that," Edward replied.

"And neither could your father who I believe will be offered the job." Dr. Burrell-Carter replied.

"You know my father?"

"Yes, we were in med school together." Dr. Burrell-Carter replied. "But we are not here to talk about that. Now tell me why should I higher you to help out at my practice?"

"I'm a good worker, I don't mind doing the grunt work and even just doing grunt work at a clinic like yours will allow me to learn a little bit about being a doctor outside of a hospital setting."

"Smart answer. Now, what kind of doctor do you plan on becoming?"

"I think I like to work with kids but I know the rotations I will have to do in med school could change my mind," Edward replied. "My dad said he changed his mind like three different times."

"He did. He wanted to be a pediatrician like you but had a hard time dealing with little children that were quite sick. He then went on to become a cardiologist but never got the hang of it so he went to work with oncology but again that didn't work so he ends up in the ER one day and found his element."

"I think that is because he can do a little bit of everything he experiences in med school," Edward replied.

"Now I as this question for everyone I higher for an internship." Dr. Burrell-Carter said.

"What is the question?"

"Is there anything that could possibly keep you from going into the medical field?"

"The only thing that could keep me from the medical field is my fear of needles. But I hate needles poking me but I can poke someone else if I have to with a needle."

"That is good to know, Now is there anything else I should know about you Mr. Cullen," Dr. Burrell-Carter said. "Anything that would make you stand out against someone else."

"I can speak two languages fluently. I speak enough of another two enough to get buy and I'm in the process of learning another." Edward replied. "I learn the languages so I can communicate with people of other nationalities."

"Out of all the people I have interviewed over the years I have not had a single one of them give me an answer like that." Dr. Burrell-Carter replied. "It bodes well for you. You will know after the holidays if you got the Internship or not."

"I guess that means we are done here?" Edward asked.

"Yes. I don't like to prolong interviews. I think that makes them stale."

"I agree with you Dr. Burrell-Carter," Edward replied. "Thank you for your time."

"Have a good day Mr. Cullen."

Edward shook the doctor's hand and exited the room. His interview had gone better than he hoped even though he had shown up late (through no fault of his own). He exited the building and headed home. He didn't need to go to the bar and drink after the other night. He still hadn't remembered what happened but he had a feeling that he was missing something big from that night. It didn't matter how hard he tried he could not remember what happened.

 **Bella** left her room in time to see Jake carrying a box inside his room. He hadn't seen her so he said nothing. Bella wondered what Jake had ordered as she moved around the kitchen making her breakfast. She was even nice enough to set a little aside for Jake to eat if he wanted it. Bella had finished eating by the time Jake came back out of his room. He was carrying the box he had grabbed from outside their apartment.

"What is that?" Bella asked.

"I thought it was a new game system I ordered but it's another one of those gifts from your secret Santa," Jake replied. "A bit much for my taste."

"What is it?" Bella said taking the box from him.

"See for yourself. I'm meeting a girl for brunch," Jake replied.

"Good luck," Bella replied.

"Thanks but I don't think it's going anywhere," Jake said.

"Why?"

"Because she is not my type but I already agreed to the date."

"You can call and cancel the date," Bella replied.

"Yeah if I had realized that yesterday but not with only fifteen minutes until the date," Jake said. "I may be a dick at times but I'm not an outright asshole."

"That could be debatable," Bella replied.

"You've been talking to Embry haven't you?"

"Only yesterday. I helped him set up that little play he was doing with his girlfriend. Apparently, she looks a lot like I or I look like her."

"You didn't get to meet her?"

"No, she was taking a final," Bella replied. "Why?"

"Because she has a scar on her right cheek and she has blue eyes but you two do look similar in all other aspects," Jake replied. "I really better get going. I will text to let you if I'm going to be home late or not."

"I'm not your family so you really don't have to," Bella replied.

"But you're my dad's godchild so we kind of are," Jake replied. "See you later."

Bella was alone again. She was still holding the box that held her latest gift. After Jakes reaction, she wasn't sure that she wanted to open it. She set it down on the kitchen table and stared at it from next to the coffee pot. She made herself a cup of coffee and continued debating whether or not to open the box.

She had finally decided to cut into the box when someone knocked on her door. She closed the drawer and pushed on the knife on to the table before going to answer the door. She didn't want to look like a maniac answering the door with a knife in hand. She was surprised to see Edward standing there.

"Edward, what are you doing here?" Bella asked.

"Alice told me you have a cookie order to fill and she also said that you needed help."

"That is tomorrow but I am building two gingerbread houses for the children's hospital."

"Why two?" Edward asked.

"One is super hero's and the other is a princess," Bella replied. "I just have to figure out what to include."

"Include all of them or at least the big ones. For superheroes, it would be the Avengers and Superman, Batman and Wonder woman. And for the princess you could have Snow White, Cinderella, Belle, Aurora, Elsa and Anna and whoever else you chose to include." Edward said.

"I better get planning. I'll let you know if I need any help."

"Cool, Just tell Alice I offered to help but you refused it," Edward replied. "She'll…"

"No need to explain," Bella said.

"Christmas shopping?" Edward asked pointing to the box on the table?"

"No, it's a gift from my secret Santa. I was just about to open it when you knocked on the door," Bella replied. "I have no idea who could have sent it or what it might be."

"So it really could be anything," Edward said.

"I've gotten everything from candy to a Kitchen Aid mixer and its only December fifth," Bella replied. "So, yes, it really could be anything."

"You should open it," Edward said.

Edward followed Bella into her kitchen and watched as she opened the box. She went to cut it open and noticed that the tape had already been pulled away once before. She set the knife back down and pulled the tape off and threw it in the trash. Inside was a smaller box with the Ring doorbell pictured on one side and a cell phone on the other with five colored circles below that telling her what the doorbell offered.

"They got me a security system," Bella said. "This is outrageous. I think I have had a thousand dollars spent on me now. It's too much. They could spend their money on people that need it not me."

"There is a card at the bottom of the big box maybe you should see if it says why they got it for you and it may not even be who you thought it was from," Edward replied."Besides you volunteer at least once a week helping someone less fortunate than you. Someone is probably just trying to show you how thankful they are that you've helped them."

"By buying me a doorbell that cost at least a hundred bucks if not more with taxes included?" Bella replied. "I'd rather have a tin of cookies."

"Then why don't we go to the bakery down the block and get some of their cookies to calm you down as having this kind of money spent on you freaks you out."

"I don't want you spending money on me either," Bella replied.

"Then we go Dutch. You buy your cookies and I buy my own," Edward said. "We are spending our own money on ourselves not each other."

"Fine. I'll go," Bella replied. "But only for an hour. I want to get to work on my gingerbread houses."


	7. Gift Six

Bella was quite happy with the work that she got done on her Gingerbread houses. She decided to go with an elaborate Christmas village where she could make different buildings that would allow children with varying diets to eat a part of the village when the time came to break the village up. The smaller houses were easier to create and decorate than the two massive ones she had been planning yesterday. She still had a couple of the houses to decorate before she took the display over to the hospital for the Christmas party they were having.

"Don't you have class?" Jake asked.

"Not today," Bella replied. "I have been decorating all day."

"I can see that. It looks like Christmas exploded in here," Jake said. "What would you do if I didn't celebrate Christmas?"

"Since we have known each other from the moment you were born actually I know that you celebrate Christmas," Bella replied. "You even played Santa last year for the reservation Christmas party."

"That was only because my dad was in the hospital and couldn't do it," Jake replied.

"You still did it and you didn't have to," Bella replied. "Now stop eating the candy. I need it to decorate the houses."

"Well I'm going out for tacos with the guys do you want to come?" Jake asked.

"No. I've got hours of work still yet."

"Your loss," Jake replied. "Do you want me to brink anything back to you?"

"No," Bella said as she focused in on a gingerbread house.

She continued to work as Jake left the Apartment. She did the doors, windows, and siding first before moving on to the roof. She wanted each house to clock similar but different enough that one of the children could pick out their own house. She was done with the houses within the next two hours and began to arrange them on the display board which she decorated as well to look like a winter wonderland. She made 3-D Christmas trees, reindeer; and even a few cookie people to dot the display with. (It also allowed for more than gingerbread to be offered).

She was placing the last of the cookie people when someone knocked on her door.

"Who is it?" She called.

"It's Edward, a package was delivered to our apartment by mistake."

Bella set the cookies person down whipped off her hands and went to open the door. She checked the peephole first to make sure it was Edward standing in front of her door. She could see the package he was talking about. It was small so that gave her hope that if it was her secret Santa hadn't spent so much on her this time. She opened the door.

"Sorry I was in the midst of finishing the display," Bella replied. "You said you had a package for me?"

"Yes, It's a small one this time. So I doubt it's more than thirty bucks," Edward replied. "But that would change if it was an antique book. I once read a story about a copy of Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None, under the original title it cost a thousand dollars."

"Seriously," Bella replied. "What was the title?"

"It is racially charged so I would rather not say," Edward said.

"That's doesn't bode well."

"I just can't believe that you haven't heard of it," Edward said.

"Agatha Christie is not one of the authors I like to read" Bella replied.

"Well you should the novel is a good one it's just that the original title wouldn't fly in the United States today," Edward said.

"It could be worse," Bella replied.

"How?"

"Uh let's see, we could have a president…"

"You know what we should avoid that mind field," Edward said.

"I know. I'm just saying we could do worse. We could have Kanye or Rosanne Barr as president."

"I would like to see Kanye as president," Jake said coming out of his room.

"I think I would buy a boat and live on that instead of on land if either of them were president," Edward replied.

"You know you two never did say who you voted for."

"Hillary all the way," Edward replied.

"I didn't vote," Jake said. "Dad was in the hospital at the time after suffering a heart attack and I was waiting to see if he made it."

"He's been alright since then right," Bella replied.

"He had to change his diet and exercise a little more but dad expected that," Jake replied. "But now that my sister and her family moved to town he doesn't get a chance to slip back into how things used to be."

"I wish that Charlie would do that. I know he eats at the diner for lunch every day and all that fried food and steak isn't good for him."

"I could see if my dad would order it," Edward said.

"That's alright. His new wife might help," Bella replied. "I have yet to actually meet her so I only have a small idea of what she is like."

"Then why aren't you going home for Christmas this year?"

"Because I quit my job and need to find another one," Bella said. "Not all of us have rich parents."

"Hey I pay for my apartment on my own," Edward replied. "Jasper only pays me rent."

"And that is because you have a big trust fund," Jake replied. "It's quite legendary down on the reservation."

"How did you guys know about it?" Edward asked.

"I only knew about it because some of the girls were thinking about trapping you into marriage like we were still stuck in the nineteen fifties."

"Jokes on them," Edward replied.

"How?" Bella asked.

"I was so focused on my education that I didn't sleep with anyone but myself."

"So the ladies man of Forks High is a virgin?"

"Yes, and I wasn't much of Ladies man."

"You did go out on a lot of dates," Bella said. "Honestly I thought you slept with some of them until you just said you were a virgin."

"Lauren started most of those roomers," Edward replied. "Bella I've got some errands to run but call me once you are ready to deliver the gingerbread village and I will bring to help you."

"Thanks, and it is a cookie village as there is more than just Gingerbread used in it," Bella replied.

"Well, you are on your own now Bella. Embry just called for a pickup game at the community center," Jake replied.

"It's not like either of you would be helping with the decorating anyway," Bella replied. "You just keep eating the candy."

Bella ended up shoving the two men out of the apartment and locking the door behind them. She quickly got back to work on the villain and put the finishing touches on in just after Edward returned to his apartment. She boxed up the village so it would be more likely to survive the trip to the hospital and called Edward and asked for his help.

They bantered back and forth during the Uber ride over to the hospital. Edward had even asked Bella about her latest gift which she had yet to open because she was working on the Cookie village and wanted to finish it on time.

"Excuse me who are you two?" A receptionist asked.

"I'm Bella Swan I'm delivering a Cookie village for the Christmas party," Bella said. "He is Edward Cullen."

"Wait here. I have to double check." the receptionist replied.

Bella and Edward sat down on a nearby bench and waited. Fifteen minutes passed by until another administrator walked up to them.

"I apologize Miss. Swan, I am Cathy Blake the woman you have been in contact with, the receptionist didn't get the notice I sent out about your delivery but if you come with me I will show you where you can set up the gingerbread houses."

"I actually call it a cookie village because there is more than gingerbread used in its creation," Bella replied. "I wanted to give a variety because so many kids have allergies and I tried to account for most of them."

"How sweet of you. We do have a few kids with allergies but those were just nut allergies."

"I didn't use anything with nuts," Bella replied.

"That should make things easy," Cathy replied. "We are taking the elevator and I have a cart nearby so you can rest your arms."

"Thank you, ma'am," Bella said. "Come on Edward."

The two followed Cathy to the elevator. They continued to carry the boxes as the cart Cathy set aside was gone. She was disappointed that someone would take it but she admitted that she hadn't put a reserved label on it.

Once they got to the floor the party was being held on. Bella and Edward were led over to a large table draped in a red tablecloth and trimmed in a fake pine tree garland with holly at the corners and in the middle. Bella arranged her cookie village with Edward helping when she requested it. Fifteen minutes later the village was put together and only took up half of the table.

"I can spread it out a little more but there will still be big gaps where I have nothing placed." Bella said.

"Oh that is quite alright, we have little cartons of milk that we'll be serving as well."

"So I'll leave it as is," Bella said. "Oh and here is the code to what is what. So the kids can safely avoid their allergies."

"Thank you, Miss. Swan, I'm sure the children will love this," Cathy said. "You are welcome to stay."

"I would but I have finals to study for. I just wanted to make sure this got done for you."

"Again thank you for all of your work."

"It was no problem,"

Bella and Edward shook hands with Cathy and said goodbye. They parted ways after exiting the hospital. Bella was heading home to study's and Edward was headed to some sports bar to watch a game with Jasper at least that is what he said he was going to do.

Once she was home Bella cleaned off the kitchen table completely and set it up to study as she went. She found the gift she had received earlier but had yet to open. She sat down at the table and cut the tape on the box and pulled the shiny package out of the box. She ripped the paper of the package and found that she had been given a Five Year Journal. It was actually several journals with one single question for each day of the year. Inside the first journal on the first page (which was blank) was a handwritten message from her secret Santa.

 _ **This journal is so that you can keep your mind**_

 _ **working and creating new plots as you move deeper**_

 _ **into life. I hope that as each year passes by that your**_

 _ **creativity grows just as you are sure to**_

 _ **grow into who you are meant to be.**_

 _ **~Your Secret Santa.**_

Bella found the note sweet and wished she could figure out who her secret Santa was. She opened the first journal again but turned it to the very first question and found the question often asked of new high school graduates and at job interviews quite often 'Where do you see yourself in five years?' After thinking about the question for a few minutes Bella began to answer the question. Before she knew it she had the whole section for the question filled in. She closed the journal and capped the pen she had been using and turned her attention to her study work. She spent the next few hours studying. She had studied so long that Jake found her asleep at the table when he came home just after eight pm. She packed up her things and crawled into bed and quickly fell asleep again.


	8. Gift Seven

After her class was set let out Bella went to the library to study. She had a few more finals left and they were approaching fast. Seven days away to be exact. She was going through the class book chapter by chapter and was on the fourth chapter when the librarian walked over to her and handed her a tube wrapped in red and white candy cane style paper and tied with green ribbons at the end of the tube.

"A gentleman dropped this off for you." She said.

"What did he look like."

"It was one of those bike messages fellows that think they own the streets and knocked my coffee out every single time they cross my path."

"Oh," Bella replied. "Thanks for bringing it over to me."

There was no note with this gift. Just a tag saying who it was for and who it was 'from'. Bella decided not to open the gift there in the library. She had no idea what it could be but was quite excited to see what it was. She studied for a few more hours before finally making her way home.

Jake was lounging around the living room with Embry and Paul. They were playing some game that made the apartment sound like it was being bombed. Jake set his controller aside and went to greet Bella.

"I didn't realize that you would be home this early." He said.

"You can have your friends over Jake it's just when you get too loud that things become a problem," Bella replied. "We had four noise complaints last month we can't have any more or we will have to find another place to stay."

"I never knew about them."

"That is because they told me as the first name on the lease."

"You should have told me," Jake said.

"I did. I told you several times to keep the noise down but you never listen to me," Bella replied. "So please turn down the sound. I'm going to my room and I rather not feel like I'm in the middle of a war zone."

Once she was in her room Jake had actually turned down the volume of the tv. She smiled it was the first time in a while that he did what she asked. She turned her attention away from her roommate to the gift that was given to her at the library. She pulled the ribbon off one end and pulled the poster that was in the tube out. She unrolled it to see that it was one of those scratch-off world maps that gained popularity this year. Looking closer at the map Bella saw that Washington State, New York, Arizona, And Florida were all scratched off. So that told her whoever was sending her these gifts knew a lot about her. She just hoped that they actually knew her and weren't stalking her. She took the map and pinned it to an open spot on her wall. Looking at the map she couldn't wait to scratch more of the black paint off.

Edward was coming home after his shift at the hospital. He was tired and wanted to go to sleep but he was surprised by the luggage that was placed by his door. It wasn't his own luggage as it was blue and black in color and the luggage buy his front door was brown and had some high-end designer logo splashed all over it.

Edward looked around the living room and kitchen and didn't see anyone. He was moving down the hallway when he heard the toilet flush and then the sink come on and then turn off a few minutes later. He waited to see who came out of the bathroom. Edward was shocked to see his dad exiting his bathroom.

"Dad, what are you doing here?" Edward asked.

"Your mom and I wanted to surprise you."

"Well we also wanted to get away from your aunt and uncle for a while," His mom said from behind him. "We are glad that we have the room to house them while they rebuild but there is only so much of my sister's new age stuff that I can take."

"But I'm supposed to fly out when Alice gets here from Paris," Edward said.

"That is when we will leave as well. We only wanted a short break and I really hope my sister hasn't messed up my house," His mom replied. "She was already trying to change things before we left."

"How about we move this to the living room," Edward said.

Edward and his parents moved down the hallway into the living room. He took a seat in a chair leaving the couch open for his parents.

"Does aunt Carmen know you are here?" Edward asked.

"Yes, She thinks that it is a last minute consultation for your father."

"You know I still have class and work right?"

"Yes, we do son. Your mother and I plan to use that time to take in some Broadway shows that she is always bugging me about and doing a little Christmas shopping," His dad replied.

"They won't be that bad," His mom replied.

"Do you guys have a hotel because I don't have space for you here."

"We do. We just wanted to stop by and see you first."

"She wants to take you and your girlfriend to dinner."

"I don't have a girlfriend."

"Alice said…"

"Alice knows I like someone but she doesn't know who and that person doesn't know how I feel," Edward said. "But I am in the process of telling her."

"So it is a her," His mom said. "Because we wouldn't care if it was a he."

"No mom that's not me," Edward said. "I have a few friends that are but I don't care as long as they don't shove it down my throat."

"Where is Jasper?" His dad asked looking around.

"He had a late meeting of his political science class study group," Edward replied. "Why?"

"We know he is seeing Alice and would like to get to know him a little better," His mom replied. "Alice does seem quite infatuated with him and we think he will here for a while if not for the rest of our lives."

"I plan to be."

"Hey Jasper," Edward said looking up from his parents.

"Mr. Cullen, Mrs. Cullen, Edward," Jasper greeted.

"You may call us by our first names, Carlisle and Esme," Esme said.

There was a small awkward silence since Jasper walked in and made his little announcement.

"Yes, ma'am, please give me a moment to put my stuff up and I'll be back," Jasper replied.

Edward and his parents remained quiet while Jasper was gone from the room. He was gone only for a few minutes. He took a seat in the chair across the room from Edward.

"I know you have questions so ask away," Jasper said as he gestured towards them.

"You say you plan to be in our lives for what is left of them however long that may be," Carlisle said. "I was wondering how you plan to do that?"

"Alice does plan to marry at some point. She even has a binder dedicated to her dream wedding," Esme added.

"That is what I want as well I just don't know if Alice would want that with me," Jasper said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small blue box. "I've had that since before she left for Paris. I could have given it to her before she left but I knew that would make her stay and I didn't want that because I know what studying in Paris means to her."

"You could do it on Christmas just like Carlisle did for me decades ago," Esme said. "We still own the cabin that he proposed at we spend every Christmas Eve there."

"Isn't that where we get our Christmas tree from every year?" Edward asked.

"Oh yes and we plant ten new trees for every tree we cut down but there are seven trees that will never be cut down."

"Really?" Edward said.

"Yes, your mother and I planted a tree for you and Alice the years you were born we even had plaques made to mark them as well as the trees that were planted for each one of your grandparents. There is also a tree that we planted the year we got married we plan to plant one when you and Alice get married and one for any future grandchildren."

"It's a tradition that we hope you and Alice continue," Esme said. "There is still quite a bit of open land."

"So you two approve of me proposing to Alice?" Jasper asked.

"Yes and I know Alice would marry you if she wanted to no matter if we approved of it or not," Carlisle said. "But she is not the type to elope in Vegas."

"Well don't discount that honey she is quite the planner and I'm sure she could put together quite the wedding in Vegas If she put her mind to it," Esme said patting Carlisle on the knee.

"So Jasper do you plan to propose to our daughter?"

"Yes, Sir I do," Jasper replied.

"Good, now let us go get some dinner before we have to check into our hotel."

The foursome exited the apartment after calling for an Uber. They were on their way down the stairs when they ran into Bella.

"Carlisle, Esme what are you doing in New York?" Bella asked.

"Taking a break from my sister and her family," Esme replied. "How are you dear?"

"I'm good applying for jobs and law schools," Bella said. "I should know by the spring what law school I'll be going to so I could be home by this time next year depending on where I get accepted."

"Well good luck to you dear," Esme said. "What are you doing for dinner?"

"I'd probably order something in," Bella replied. "After all the baking I did yesterday I'm not in the mood to cook anything and my roommate is more likely to burn the apartment down."

"You should come out to eat with us. I know if Alice was here she would drag you along with us, just like your father would do to her if they were both here instead of us."

"Are you sure I'm not exactly ready to go out," Bella replied.

"And neither are we. We just got off a plane three hours ago," Carlisle said. "You will fit right in with the rest of us."

"Okay just let me put this stuff away and I'll meet you in the lobby."

"Oh, could I come up and see what you've done with the place without Alice?" Esme asked.

"I guess so, I haven't changed anting other than the second bedroom and that was only so Jake could move in and help with rent," Bella said.

"Really that is all?" Esme asked. "I thought that you would have changed something, you and Alice have such different taste."

"I don't have the energy. As a double major, I don't have the time to worry about changing the apartment's décor."

"That does make sense," Esme said. "But I'd still like to see it."

Edward, Carlisle, and Jasper stood off to the side to wait for a few minutes. while Bella and Esme went up to Bella's apartment. He wondered slightly what his mother was up to. Edward was a bit nervous about how this dinner would go he hoped that he wouldn't give himself away as he wanted to keep his secret just a little bit longer.

"Come on Edward your mother will take fifteen minutes to talk Bella's ear off," Carlisle said. "We might as well go wait for the Uber in the lobby."

"I know, I just feel like mom is up to something," Edward said.

"She is your mother so I would say that is a hundred to one against that she is not up to something," Carlisle replied as he dragged his son down to the lobby.

Esme and Bella did not arrive in the lobby until just before the Uber arrived. Bella had changed her outfit so that was apparently what took them so long. Not to mention his mother did like to talk and never met a stranger where ever she went. She even talked the Uber driver's ear off the whole ride over to the restaurant.


	9. Gift Eight

Bella woke up on her couch to someone knocking on her door. She wasn't expecting anyone and Jake had stayed at Paul's place last night after they had gone out drinking. Bella threw the blanket she had covered up with off to the side and shuffled over to the door. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as she went. She looked through the peephole but couldn't see anything but the top of a woman's head. The woman was holding a large basket filled with soaps of all kinds. The woman knocked again so Bella decided to open the door.

"Esme, what are you doing here?" Bella asked.

"I was wondering if you would like to do a little Christmas shopping with me," Esme replied. "So would you like to go?"

"I'm not ready to anywhere," Bella replied.

"Well maybe you can use something in this basket to help you get ready while I wait," Esme replied. "It is addressed to you."

"Must be my secret Santa," Bella said as she took the basket out of Esme's hands.

"Secret Santa is that through the school?" Esme asked.

"Oh, No, it is not a group thing. This person who I assume is a guy started to send me gifts on November thirtieth with a massive amount of candy sent in the shape of a three-tier cake," Bella said. "I have gotten something every day since then and they haven't been cheap."

"Someone spending money on you makes you uncomfortable."

"I didn't grow up with money so when someone who isn't related to me does spend money on me it drives me crazy," Bella replied. "Don't get me wrong it is nice that someone wants to spend money on me but when there are people out there that could use more money than I need presents."

"Oh, I know how you feel dear. I was just a simple farm girl in my first year of college when I met Carlisle at a mixer his fraternity threw," Esme said. "My roommate took made me go even though I would have preceded staying home. Every Friday after that I was greeted by two dozen roses on my desk at work and that was before we were officially dating."

"Sounds like whoever is sending me this stuff," Bella replied. "And your college roommate sounds a lot like Alice."

"Allison should, she's Alice's godmother," Esme said.

"Has Alice met her?"

"She won't remember her. She died just after Alice turned two in a car accident. Hit some black ice coming home from work and..."

"No need to explain, I hear about accidents like that all the time from my dad," Bella said. "I'm going to change. There's some coffee on the counter with. sugar jar next to it and there's creamer in the fridge."

Esme nodded at sat down at the kitchen table and waited for Bella to change. Bella was quick about it and Esme only had to wait five minutes. Bella dumped out the rest of her coffee as it would be cold by the time she got back. Esme had hired a car for the day. Esme gave the driver a list of stores she wanted to go to but told him that it didn't matter which one he went to first as long as he took her to each store that day.

Bella followed along and got to know her best friends mom. She looked at a couple of things the store had to offer but choose not to buy anything because most of it was gaudy and not something she would buy for herself or someone else.

"Ma'am, is there anything I can help you with?" a salesman asked.

"No, sir, I am just looking around," Bella replied.

"Then I will have to ask you to leave. We are a high-class store and we can't just have someone 'looking' around," The man replied.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, sir," Bella replied politely. "I'm just going to tell my friend I'll be in the car."

Bella quickly found Esme by a Tiny Christmas village display looking at all of the knew buildings that they had released that year.

"Esme, I'm going to wait in the car."

"I'm almost done here. Give me a few more minutes and I'll leave with you."

"That guy over there says that because I'm not buying anything that I have to leave," Bella replied.

"Which man?" Esme asked.

Bella pointed the man out to Esme and held back a far as she could without making it obvious. Bella could tell from the way that Esme walked that she wasn't happy. The man put on a fake smile and turned his attention to the approaching Esme.

"Hello ma'am, how may I help you today?" He asked.

"You can apologize to Bella here," Esme replied. "I asked her to come with me today and I assume she's done most if not all of her shopping buy now as she lives in the city."

"Ma'am It is store policy that If you haven't purchased something within a half hour that you are to leave." The man replied.

"Well because you would let me take my time this store loses me as a customer," Esme said. "Come on Bella we have other stores to go to." Esme paused and shoved the basket of things she had grabbed into the man's hands. "You can put that back on the shelves where I picked them up from yourself, it will give you something to do besides disrespect potential customers."

And with that Bella and Esme left the shop without purchasing a single item. There had been several in the basket Esme pushed into the guys hands.

"Next shop on the list please," Esme said without another word.

Bella went to ask her several times what it was but couldn't get the words out. The rest of their shopping excursion went better. Bella even found a few last minutes gifts she had been looking for at one store or another. Their day ended with lunch at the Tiffany café at Tiffanys for which Edward and Carlisle joined them. Bella separated from the family after lunch and headed home to wrap the gifts she bought that day. The only dark spot on the day being the salesman from the first store.

"Bella where have you been? Your dad called.," Jake said.

"I went shopping with Esme," Bella replied. "Did my dad say what he wanted?"

"He wanted to know what you had planned on doing for Christmas, and said something about his wife."

"Thanks," Bella replied. "I'll have to call him later to let him know."

"Please do," Jake said.

Bella entered her room dug the tote of wrapping paper out from the back of her closet, found a pair of scissors and a roll of tape and some spare ribbon. She got to work wrapping all of the gifts she bought. She made sure she knew who they were for without actually putting a label on them. She liked using on a style of wrapping paper for one person and another style for the next and so on.

"Your dad is calling again."

Bella spilled and rushed for the phone. The ringing had stopped by the time she got to it so she rushed back to her room and called him on face time.

"Isabella," He greeted.

"Dad," Bella replied.

"Hey, I have called you twice now and you didn't answer," He replied. "So how have you been?"

"Good," Bella said.

"Jake said you quit your job?"

"Only because my boss was a sleaze bag," Bella replied. "I couldn't take working for him anymore."

"Then you should report him," he replied.

"I didn't need to. He got caught red-handed by his wife with Jessica Stanley."

"Little Jessica, Deputy Mark's niece?"

"One in the same."

"Seriously?"

"Yes, dad and she wasn't an angel back in forks either. I'm pretty sure that from her freshman year on that she was at every single party the department had to break up even if she wasn't one of the few you arrested."

"Enough talk about that are you coming home for Christmas or not?" he asked.

"I'm not sure I want to get a new job but I haven't done that yet."

"You will find one and that shouldn't be a reason for you not to come home. I pay for your ticket every year."

"And you are a small town police chief paying for my college because you refuse to let me use my trust fund,"

"I can't help it. That is the way your grandmother wrote her will," he replied. "She didn't want you to have to worry about money if you somehow got trapped in a relationship like she did before she met grandpa."

"You never told me that. You just said that it was what grandma wanted."

"Well it's true," He replied. "I just didn't give you the details of the story and you still haven't answered my question, are or are you not coming home for Christmas?"

"When would you want me home?" Bella asked.

"I would at least want you there on the twenty," He replied. "Just let me know by Tuesday so I can order the ticket in time."

"I will," Bella replied. "It looks like someone is waiting to talk to you."

She pointed behind her dad as she could see a slender woman standing behind him.

"That is Sue, She's your stepmother," he replied. "And we have to go grocery shopping before I start the late shift."

"Okay, I'll talk to you later," Bella replied raising her hand and waving goodbye.

Bella continued to wave until her dad's section of the screen went dark before going back to the main menu. She turned her computer off and set it aside. She debated in her head on whether or not she should go home for Christmas. The urge to go home for the holiday was growing stronger with each day that passes by.

"Bella, you want to go hang out at the bar."

"Will it be just us two?" Bella asked.

"No, Embry and his girlfriend will be there and I think Paul and his fiancé and her sister might drop by."

"What bar? Because if it is that biker bar you took me to the last time I will throat punch you right now."

"Like Embry would take his girlfriend there," Jake said. "It's the bar that How I Met Your Mother based MacLaren's off of."

"Sure I need to eat again," Bella replied.

Twenty minutes later found Bella eating a pate of fired ravioli stuffed with mushrooms and cheese along with a salad. She was enjoying her time with Jake for once. She still didn't see him romantically.

"Bella thank you for standing in for me the other day." Embry's girlfriend said upon their arrival.

"No problem, although someone thought that you were me and saw you and Embry kissing."

"Seriously but I'm blonde," she said.

"I know you're now but you weren't a few days ago."

"I apologized for that," Jake said. "I don't like when people cheat."

"Neither do I," Bella said.

"Sorry, Bella I didn't cause any more trouble than that did I?"

"No," Bella replied."Just a small bit of confusion and Jake doesn't seem to realize that he can't control me. Heck, we aren't even dating."

"You are my god sister you mean a lot to me. I don't want you to get hurt even if it is by my best friend." Jake said.

"Hey, I thought that I was your best friend?" Paul asked joining the table along with his fiancée.

"You can have more than one best friend," Bella said and she moved farther into the booth to allow Paul and his fiancée more room.

"Most people only have one," Paul replied.

"Both of them are correct Paul." His fiancée said. "And you need to order your beer before its time for us to leave."

"Why do we have to leave?" Paul asked.

"Because we are meeting my parents, that is why."

"You couldn't tell me this earlier?"

"I tried but you were too busy playing your stupid video games. You know that is going to stop once we get married right?"

"Of course I do," Paul replied. "You have only told me a million times since last Thursday about how immature it is."

Bella having finished her meal felt awkward. She thought that Paul and his fiancée were doing great but apparently, they were not doing as great as they made everyone think. She downed the rest of her drink and was never more thankful for Edward calling her.

Bella stepped away from the table to take the call.

"Hey, Edward I'm hanging out with Jake and his friends and their girlfriends what did you need?"

"I need you to hide my gift for my mom in your apartment. She'll be cleaning and reorganizing mine while she and dad are in town."

"So, in other words, she will be snooping for whatever you got her in your apartment and you don't want her to find it."

"Bingo," Edward replied. "Now will you do it because I really need you to hide it now. My parents are coming over to watch the game, well dad will watch the game mom will be cleaning the kitchen and playing candy crush because she doesn't like football."

"Sure," Bella replied. "I'll let you know when I am home so you can bring it over. Does it need to be wrapped?"

"No, I had the store wrap it before sending It to me," Edward replied. "Otherwise it would look like it was just unwrapped instead of being wrapped."

"I still have some paper left over I can wrap it for you," Bella said. "So then It would be a box within a box."

"You know what that would be a good idea, It would also throw her off on what I got her as well," Edward replied.

"Sorry, Jake but I have to get home. Edward said I have a package waiting for me but only I could sign for it." Bella said to Jake. "Stay here and hang with your friends. I'll let you know when I get home."

"Do you really have to go now we were just having a good time," Jake replied.

"Yes," Bella said as she slipped her coat on.

She dug a twenty out of one of her pockets and handed it to jake.

"Buy a pitcher on me."


	10. Gift Nine

**_"Edward_** , honey, I need to speak with you," Esme said.

"What is it mom because I really have to finish this paper today," Edward replied. "Or is this something we can talk about tomorrow."

"It has to be today and it can't be any later because your father and I have tickets to the theater."

Edward pushed his laptop away from himself and turned his attention to his mother who was sitting across from him.

"So what is it?" Edward asked.

"You need to stop it with the extravagant gifts for Bella."

"How did you know?" Edward asked.

"A mother always knows Edward and I saw the basket of products in your room the night your dad and I arrived," Esme replied. "I recognized it the moment I spotted it on her doormat yesterday morning."

"I can't stop. I've already got everything and there are twenty-five gifts."

"Well donate the gifts to someone who needs it and give something to Bella that comes from the heart," Esme said. "She told me herself just yesterday that she doesn't like having money spent on her when there is someone out there that could use it more than she could."

"So she didn't like what I gave her?"

"Oh, she loves the gifts dear she just doesn't like how much they cost," Esme replied. "Edward, honey Bella is like me before I married your father only she didn't grow up on a farm and her parents are divorced."

"She really liked them?" Edward asked.

"Yes," Esme said. "Now please stop sending her gifts."

"But I had twenty-five days of Christmas planned, that would be kind of hard to execute if I send everything else off to charity."

"Well, you could start by saying a donation was made to a charity in her name or you could just tell her who you are."

"I'm not ready."

"You may never truly be ready, you just have to do it sometimes," Esme said. "So as one of my creative writing classmates said 'do it you won't'. It doesn't make much sense but he was always saying it to his friends as a way to dare them to do something. I almost quit the class because of them."

"You took a creative writing class?"

"Yes, I took it last summer. Your father and I both pick a class available to everyone each summer and take it. This year happened to be creative writing next summer will be some style of cooking we don't do every day."

"Is that all you wanted?" Edward asked.

"Yes."

"Can I get back to my paper?"

"Of course," Esme said. "I should be getting back to your father. At least think about telling Bella how you feel. A girl like her will not wait around for you forever especially since she doesn't know how you feel."

"I know ma," Edward replied.

"Besides what is love without a little risk?"

Edward just stared blankly at his mother.

"Boring Edward because if there is no risk there is no reward," Esme replied. "I made the risk by choosing your father over who my parents wanted me to marry."

"Mom, I get it, so please stop lecturing me."

He pushed his chair back from the table and stood up.

"Come on we don't want you to be late for your theater date with dad."

"Oh, that isn't until eight."

"Are you going to attend the show wearing the outfit you have no now?"

"No."

"If Alice knew you were putting getting ready off…"

"No one is as high maintenance as your sister," Esme said. "I will love her to the ends of the earth and until the day I die but fashion is not everything she makes it out to be."

"Oh, I know, the first week she was in Paris I wore the same pair of jeans just because I could," Edward replied. "She would not have made in a time before showering every day and changing your clothes every day became a thing."

"I agree if your father doesn't have to work and I don't have to work and there is nothing that we have planned to do we don't change out of our night clothes," Esme said. "But with your father's line of work that is a very rare event."

"Does that disappoint you?" Edward asked.

"No, because your father and I both go absolutely mad if we have nothing to do for more than a day or two. It's why our family vacations are always packed with activities."

"I guess I never noticed."

"What kid does when they are young, outside of the rare few that is."

"Are we done now or do you need to talk my ear of some more?" Edward asked.

"We are," Esme said. "Let me know how it goes and good luck with your paper."

Edward then spent the next five minutes to escort his mom down to the lobby where her car for the day was waiting for her. He waved at her until he could no longer see her face. He entered back into the building just as Bella was leaving.

"Library?" Edward asked her.

"Yes," Bella replied before running off and slipping into a car.

Edward shook his head and headed back up to his apartment where his paper awaited his attention. The paper was ten pages long and he only had seven of them written. He had three more to go and he felt like it was pulling teeth to get the information to come out like he wanted them to. It also didn't help that Bella ran across his mind every couple of minutes.

Now that he knew Bella didn't like the money spent on her he had to change his plan but first he had to finish his paper. Once his paper was done he could focus on his feelings for Bella he just didn't know what to do at this moment since buying her gifts wasn't something she liked because of the money some of them cost. It was time he gave her something from the heart.

Whenever he was having as his mother like to put its troubles of the heart Edward played his piano. He could play it for hours and not realize how much time had actually passed by. And true to form that is exactly what happens as Edward didn't stop playing until Jasper arrived home for the night.

"Okay, What is going on with you?" Jasper asked. "It's been months since you have turned into a brooding composer from the Victorian era."

"I am not brooding, I am thinking," Edward said.

"How long have you thinking?" Jasper asked.

"A couple of hours I guess," Edward replied.

"It's eight o'clock."

"Crap I got to go. I'll be back in an hour," Edward said.

He rushed toward the front door and disappeared out the front door stuffing himself into his coat as he went. He left a very confused Jasper behind.

 ** _Bella_** was coming back into the building after studying a the library for a couple of hours and stopping by the local bodega to grab a few things the apartment needed, mainly cleaning supplies and that as something Jake never picked up. Although he at least he picked up food every now and then but that was takeout most of the time.

She was almost to her floor when Edward passed by barely missing her as he went. She almost turned around to ask him where he was going but he was already too far for her to see. She continued on to her apartment. Once she was inside she unpacked her shopping bags and put her school bag into her room before settling in for another Christmas movie marathon. She was halfway through a bowl of fresh popcorn when someone knocked on her door.

She paused the movie thanks to the DVR Alice had gotten her last year, set her popcorn down on the table and headed for the door. She opened it after seeing a delivery man carrying a large flower arrangement. It had several types of flowers that Bella thought were out of season and quite expensive. After she set the flowers down on a slide table the delivery man also gave her a book with the title relating to the language of flowers.

"It's kind of late for you to be delivering."

"Last minute order," the man said. "Guy paid a good chunk for us to deliver it tonight instead of tomorrow."

"Oh well, thank you for taking the time to deliver it."

"I get paid for each separate delivery I make so this is just more money in my pocket," The man replied.

"Do you need me to sign anything?" Bella asked.

"Nope," Then man replied. "Have a good Christmas."

"I'm sure I will," Bella replied as the man walked away.

Bella closed the door with her free hand and went back to watch her movie the book and flowers both kept drawing her attention away from the movie and she missed the last half of it. She would have to watch it again later.

Jake came home and quickly left just after she got the flowers. He made no comment on them as he quickly left again with a gym bag in hand after mumbling something about staying with Paul. He had said it so quickly that Bella wasn't able to catch what he said outside of him saying that he was staying with Paul.

She picked up the book and started to look at it. It was mostly a picture book but gave the names of several flowers and what the different colors of that flower meant if the flower came in more than one color. She saw that some if not all of the flowers in the arrangement sent. She was almost to the end of the book when a card slipped out of the pages and on to her table.

She picked up the card it was nearly blank on the front side with a shiny white 'E' on a matte white background. The other side held a short handwritten note.

I've learned from a reliable source that you don't like the amount of money I have spent on you. While I did have more gifts planned for you I am now starting from scratch except for the one gift but you will have to wait to learn what that one is. These flowers, book and this very card are the first hints at who I am. Each gift I get you from here on out will have a personal connection between the two of us and a single hint of who I might be but that is only if I don't break down first and tell you who I am outright like my mother thinks I should do.

Sincerely Your Secret Santa.

Bella smiled and looked closely at the flowers. She didn't see anything that told her who it was outside of the stylized 'E' on the front of the card but that could have been part of the company's logo and there were several that had names that started with an E.

She took the book, card, and flowers and carried them to her room. She set the flowers down on an open part of her desk and leaned the card up against the vase the flowers had come in. She took the book and put it on the shelf with the rest of her non-fiction books.

She went back to the living room and cleaned up her mess from the movie marathon and prepared her coffee for the next morning. Even though she didn't have anything to do in the morning she didn't like sleeping in too often. She felt that it made her lazy even if she really needs the rest. She went back to her bed and climbed under the covers. She sat up and read the book she had on her nightstand for the past couple of nights and only went to sleep after she finished the book. She fell asleep looking at the flowers mentally make a list of people that could have sent them to her along with everything else she had been given in the past few days.


	11. Gift Ten

**_To My Dear and Lovely readers,_**

 _ **if you spot a misspelled word or the wrong form of the word used in this story please let me know where and what it is so I may correct it ASAP. I have two differnt spell check apps that don't catch everything.**_

 _ **Sincerly, MJM**_

Bella woke up early to the smell of coffee brewing. She prepared it last night but she didn't set the alarm because she never knew when she would wake up and didn't want the coffee to burn.

Bella threw off the covers rolled out of bed. She grabbed her bat and walked slowly into the kitchen. Standing at the counter was someone she didn't expect to see for days.

"Alice, what in the hell are you doing here?" Bella asked. "You weren't supposed to be here for eight days."

"I had the opportunity to come home early and I took it. I wanted to surprise mom and dad by coming home early."

"They are here in the city."

"Why?" Alice asked.

"Because your aunt is driving your mom nuts," Bella said. "Something about her new age obsession or something."

"How did you learn that?" Alice asked.

"Your mother dragged me Christmas shopping a few days ago," Bella replied. "I see where you get it from."

"I am not that bad," Alice said. "So how has Edward been? He seemed depressed the last time I talked to him."

"Honestly I don't know. We don't really hang out without you. forcing us to do so," Bella said. "We tried once but it didn't work out."

"What do you mean," Alice asked as she poured coffee into two cups.

"I showed up at the agreed upon place and he never showed," Bella replied. "We have hung out since them but it's always been in groups."

Bella took one of the cups and fixed her coffee the way she liked it and sat down at the kitchen table. She was quiet as Alice fixed up her own coffee. Both women were quiet as they took their first sips of coffee.

"I always thought with me out of the way that you and Edward would at least hook up but I guess that didn't happen."

"Not even close," Bella replied. "Why did you think that we would get together in one way on another?"

"Because you guys were so close during high school, I always thought that it would be a matter of time until one of you broke and confessed your feelings but I guess I was wrong."

"We were just friends," Bella said. "Although there is someone he is interested In but I don't know who."

"I knew that much," Alice said. "So is it alright if I hide out here until I fly out to Washington?"

"Of, course, I never took you off the lease. I added Jake but I never took you off."

"How has he been working out?"

"There have been a few rough patches but for the most part he has been an okay roommate," Bella said. "I haven't kicked him out yet."

"That is a good sign."

"It is and thanks for starting my coffee but I have to take a shower and get ready for the day," Bella replied. "You should call Jasper if you haven't done so. I know he has missed you."

"I plan to but first I need to make myself up," Alice said.

"Alice you look like you could have stepped off a fashion runway two seconds ago you don't need to make your self up. Besides Jasper loves you just as much with the makeup on as he does without It."

"I prefer to have myself made up. We having seen each other in person or months."

Neither woman said another word. Alice headed for Bella's bedroom with her bags and Bella headed for the bathroom. She took a quick shower and went to change into her clothes for the day. Today was her last day with more than one class. Her last class although was on the fourteenth just before she would fly home if she chose to go home that is.

Bella was done getting ready for the day long before Alice was. She went back to the kitchen table this time with her phone and pulled up Jasper's number sent him a message. She only had a few seconds to wait before she got a reply. She smiled at it.

"Alice hurry up. We are going to the roof."

"What for?" Alice asked.

"You will see," Bella replied.

Alice went back to fixing herself up as she put and Bella drank another cup and half of coffee before Alice was finally finished. Bella found a Christmas card taped to her front door as the left and stuffed it into her coat pocket. She led Alice up to the roof by the stairs as the elevator was still closed down and did not reach the roof.

Bella was the first one through the roof access door. Jasper was waiting by the edge of the roof smoking a bad habit that he had yet to break even though Alice asked him to quit. He quickly snuffed out his cigarette and tossed the but into a nearby trash can. He then turned to face Alice just as she stepped onto the roof.

"Jasper," Alice yelled.

She rushed over to her boyfriend and jumped into his arms. She kissed him so deeply that Bella had to look away from the intimate moment. She walked to the other side of the roof and looked out at the city.

"Thank you, Bella," Alice said.

"It was no problem and I need someone to help me hide the fact that you are home early and who better to do that than Jasper?"

"No one," Alice said. "Do you know when my parents plan to head home?"

"Tomorrow I think," Jasper said. "I've only seen them a few times but we didn't talk about travel plans but they have invited me to celebrate Christmas."

"What about your dad?" Alice asked.

"He's spending it with Rose and her boyfriend," Jasper said. "Rose and I get along but things are still awkward between us."

"Well that is disappointing but I'm happy you chose to spend it with my family," Alice said. "You should come home to Bella."

"My dad has already asked me to come home but I don't know."

"You should. I already got you a ticket as my gift to you."

"Mary Alice Cullen," Bella said. "You know that I do not like having money spent on me."

"And when have I ever listened to you," Alice replied.

"Never."

"Now start packing your bags because I know it takes you forever," Alice said. "Jasper and I have some catching up to do."

"Well be careful if you don't want Edward to know that you are home."

"We will."

Bella left her friend and her boyfriend on the roof. She headed back to her apartment and packed her bags as Alice was sure to do it for her if she didn't do it.

The Christmas card in her coat pocket was forgotten as she packed.

 ** _Edward_** was doing good that morning, he had made another step in the direction of telling Bella that he was the one behind all the gifts she had been getting. Today he gave her a card he made out of simple white cardstock and some markers that were stuffed into the junk drawer in the kitchen. He spent hours making the card the night before. He had to find the perfect quote to put on the inside and he drew the tree, Santa, and Rudolph on the front cover. He even recurved Jasper to write something with a fountain pen he had gotten as a gift several years ago.

Right now he was working on the gift for tomorrow. He had gotten some studio time in one of the music rooms and decided to recorded instrumental versions of several of Bella's favorite songs. He could do the piano and bit of guitar so he got one of the schools' music majors to play the violin, bass, and cello for him.

"Was that the last you needed from me, Edward?"

"Yes, Cathy, you got them all on one take. You did really great." Edward said. "You would make a great studio musician if you can't get on with a symphony."

"I have three auditions set for this spring so fingers crossed I won't be in the studio again unless it is for my own work."

"Good luck," Edward said

Once Cathy was gone Edward turned his attention to the last bit of work he had to do on the song. The piano parts weren't quite right so he had to redo them. He did a couple of different versions before decided to head home for the day. His time in the room was almost up anyway and there were music majors that needed it to prepare for their final performances.


	12. Gift 11

Edward spent the rest of the night working on his latest gift for Bella. He burned the music on to a disk just after four in the morning. He got six hours of sleep before he had to attend his last class of the year. He ate a quick breakfast before grabbing his bag and heading out the door to his last class.

He was one out of the twenty-five students to show up out of the thirty that took the class. The professor wasn't happy but went about giving the students one last review for the class at the halfway point the last five students showed and took their seats. The professor allowed them to take their seats to take the final. Edward looked at the final for three minutes before he made his first mark. He like many others had to pass this class if he wanted to go on to graduate school. He knew the subject no matter which way you went at it but, he always second-guessed his answers.

He ran into Jasper combing out fo the law library as he left campus.

"Hey Edward," Jasper greeted. "Last final?"

"Just finished," Edward said. "I hate taking test. I always second guess myself."

"I'm glad that I have my photographic memory or I would have failed out of most of my classes if not the school itself."

"I wish I had that. It would make med school in the future so much easier." Edward said. "Why were you in the law library?"

"I needed one last source for my paper. My professor suggested a book that was in that library," Jasper replied. "It did not help me at all but I finished my paper anyway. We'll see if I pass my class later."

"With your memory, I am sure you will," Edward said. "Do you want to hang out tonight?"

"Sure. I've got a meeting to see a ring at the moment but meet at the bar or the apartment?" Jasper replied.

"Apartment, I think the bars would be too crazy with classes ending," Edward said.

"Didn't think of that. I'll pick something up after my ring appointment."

"Good luck and remember she likes vintage."

"Like I could ever forget she once gave me an hour-long lecture on what type of jewelry she likes even if it ends up being costume jewelry," Jasper said.

"That's Alice for you. I'll see you later."

Edward and Jasper parted ways. Edward went south to the apartment and Jasper north to the jewelry store for his appointment. He was heading up to his apartment when he heads music coming in from Bella's apartment. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was the CD he had recorded for Bella. He stopped and exited the stairwell and walked over to her front door.

"Edward, what are you doing here?"

"I just wanted to see if you would like to hang out, you can even invite Jake if you want to."

"I'll let him know," Bella said. "But I will stop by for a few minutes."

"It's not a party but a small get together now that classes are over."

"I sill have one left," Bella said. "It's why I can't go home until the eighteenth, that's if I do go home."

"Why wouldn't you go home?" Edward asked.

"I'm not sure, I guess part of me just wants some time to myself without friends stopping by or calling all the time and I know everyone would do that back in Forks."

"Get a hotel room," Edward said.

"Every room in Forks is booked up already and I wouldn't want to book a room any further out than that," Bella said. "But thanks for the idea."

"No problem. See you in a few," Edward replied.

Edward left Bella alone and headed up to his apartment. He got out drinking glasses that he was sure would be used over the course of the night and got the popcorn ready to be popped when people started to arrive. Once he had everything organized he went and changed into more comfortable clothing and set himself up in front of the TV. He found a game on and watched it until someone knocked on the door.

Edward opened the door to see Bella, Jake, and two of Jakes friends.

"I hope you don't mind that I invited Jake's friends," Bella said. "Paul's fiancée left him and Jake didn't want to leave him all alone and Embry's girlfriend went home for the holiday to see her dad."

"I'm good," Edward said.

He stepped aside to let everyone into the apartment. He was about to close the door when Jasper appeared at the end of the hallway. He had his book-bag hanging off one arm and a shopping bag off another.

"Hey man looks like we are having a party," Jasper said. "I ran into Ben and Emmet on the way back and told them they could come on over."

"That's fine we already have four people here."

"Impromptu poker night?" Jasper asked.

"If not poker some other card game," Edward replied.

The two men entered their apartment and started to pour drinks by the time they got to everyone at the apartment the last of their guest arrived. They quickly poured them drinks and started to play a little poker. Bella bowed out of the last game as poker was not her type of game.

"Why not play Never have I ever?"

"We are in our twenties why would we play some teenage game?" Rosalie asked.

"Because it is fun and allows us to get sloshed while learning the secrets our friends have kept from us," Paul said. "At least that way we would have to earn our shots."

"That sounds reasonable," Rosalie replied. "But we need to set limits because there are things that some of us have in our past that not everyone needs to know."

"I agree," Bella said.

Edward got up from his spot on the floor and went to dig out the plastic shot glasses they had from a previous party and a full bottle before returning to the table. He set up a single shot glass in front of each person.

While Edward was getting the shot glasses and alcohol Jasper got up and grabbed a pad of paper and a bunch of pens. He tore several sheets into strips and handed them out to everyone.

"Now for the questions write down your. Questions on the slips I just gave you and then put them in…" He looked around and found a hat sitting on a side table. "…this hat but only after you have folded them up."

About five minutes later the shot glasses were filled and so was the hat. Jasper picked up the hat and handed it over to Edward.

"You're the host of this little party so you should go first," Jasper said.

Edward took the hat and pulled a single strip out of the had. He unrolled it.

"Never have I ever been in handcuffs," He read.

Everyone but Bella, Angela and Jake took a shot. Edward quickly filled them back up and passed the hat on to Jake. Jake did the same as Edward and pulled a question out.

"Never have I ever kissed a friend while drunk," Jake said. "And in tiny letters below that, it says within the last year."

Only Embry and Paul drank on that one.

"You should drink to Edward, or do you not see me as a friend?" Bella said.

"When did I kiss you?"

"The night you puked in the elevator, I'm pretty sure you thought I was someone else though."

"Sorry," Edward replied.

"That's okay, I just prefer the guys kissing me to be sober when they do it so I know that they meant to kiss me."

"I agree with that," Rosalie said. "So how was he?"

"He would have been better sober is my guess," Bella said. "But it's the only kiss I have gotten this year so I can't complain."

No one in the group noticed Edward's eyes nearly bug out of his head as he listened to what Bella said. Once Bella was done talking the group quickly went through the rest of the questions. Edward and Jasper cleaned up thier apartment as thier guest left.

Jake, Paul, and Embry could barely walk as they left the apartment. Ben and Angela had followed them down to her apartment where they helpe dBella get the three men into Jake's room where they would crash for the night. Ben and Angela quickly said goodbye and went home. Bella went to her room to crash but found Alice having a marathon of Netflix original Christmas movies.

"I hear they had fun," Alice greeted.

"Yes and your brother even more so," Bella replied. "Jasper said. He was going to call you once Edward was asleep, which shouldn't be long."

"How much did you have to drink?" Alice asked.

"Five shots and two actually drinks," Bella replied

"That is a lot for you," Alice said.

"It is but I needed to relax a bit. What did you do while I was gone?"

"Watched movies on Netflix and went looking online for an idea of what to get Jasper," Alice replied. "Didn't find a dang thing. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't get it by Christmas if I ordered it today anyway."

"You could always see if the store has an item in stock at the physical store instead of going online and not finding a single thing," Bella replied. "He seemed to like country music, you can get him that box set of Garth Brooks."

"I would rather not indulge that aspect of him."

"Why not he lets you listen to all the Cardi B you want and he can't stand her."

"But Garth Brooks is so old," Alice said.

"That does not mean a dang thing. I caught you rocking out to him just before you left for Paris at three in the afternoon."

"Okay, one I was not rocking out, and two a box set while It does seem like a great gift it does not seem like enough, I feel like I should get him something more," Alice said.

"Then go high school on him and create a playlist or a cd and give it to him."

"Fine," Alice said. "But I'm not creative like that."

"Yes you are," Bella replied. "You just do not realize it."

She pushed her blanket off and went to make herself at home on the couch. Bella followed her and stayed up to watch one movie with her. She only went back to her room after the movie was over as she started to fall asleep before the credits had even started to roll.

Bella took the cd she had gotten from her secret Santa and placed it into her player and turned the volume to a low level and climbed into bed and fell asleep.


	13. Gift 12

Edward woke up the morning after playing cards and never have I ever to a quiet apartment. He thought for sure that he would hear Jasper frying himself an egg or something but he heard nothing. He climbed out of bed and made his way down to the bathroom to dig some Tylenol out of the medicine cabinet.

He entered the kitchen and downed what orange juice was left in the cartoon and ate some two-day-old pizza because he didn't feel like cooking anything. He had just thrown the pizza box in the trash when Jasper came home.

"Where have you been?" Edward asked.

"Shopping," Jasper replied

"I thought you were done with shopping?"

"Just a few last minute things."

"You are not going to tell me are you?" Edward asked.

"No, because one of them I plan on giving you, "Jasper said. "Are you doing okay?"

"I'm alright It's just my winter allergies flaring up. I just hope I don't get a sinus infection."

"You should take some Benadryl, it always helps me through the season."

"You are able to stay awake, I, however, pass out like I just drank a full twenty-four pack of beer by myself."

"Take it tonight when you go to bed."

Edward shrugged him off and headed back to his room to get ready for the day. It was still morning so he decided to head out and get coffee and something better than cold two-day-old pizza to eat.

Jasper was ensconced in his room by the time Edward left blasting some country song he didn't recognize. It wasn't bad but it wasn't his favorite song to listen to this early in the morning.

Once he got to the coffee shop Edward placed his order and waited. He was playing a game on his phone when a girl from one of his classes walked over to him.

"Edward I thought you would have gone home to see your parents by now," the girl said.

"I'm still going, I'm just waiting for my sister to come in from Paris on the eighteenth," Edward said.

"I thought I saw her here yesterday,"

"Probably just a look-a-like," Edward said. "Are you heading home for Christmas Katie?"

"No mom and dad are taking an anniversary cruise to the Bahamas, so I would be alone," Katie replied. "Do you want to hang out sometime? Before your sister gets here that is."

"I'm sorry Katie but I've got other plans."

"Oh, Well maybe some other time then," Katie replied.

Edward had never been happier that his name had been called. He quickly grabbed his order and left the coffee shop.

Letting girls down gently when they were nice was something Edward never grew comfortable with. He always wanted to let them down gently and that didn't always happen. With the few times he wasn't able to let them down gently Edward had gotten slapped four times, three drinks thrown in his face and kicked in the family jewels at least once. Edward Cullen may have had the looks to get the girls but he didn't have the confidence to keep them around as it were mainly because he was already in love with someone else and didn't think that she was interested in him.

He stopped at Bella's apartment on the way back to his to see how she was doing this morning since she didn't look too good last night and had Jake and his friends with her as well. Bella was not home when he knocked on her door but Jake was.

"Listen man just tell me where she went," Edward said.

"I don't know, She was gone before I got up this morning."

"Can you at least tell her that I dropped by?" Edward asked.

"Sure, if we cross paths," Jake said before he slammed the door in Edward's face.

Edward turned around and headed to his apartment. Jasper was watching tv when he got back. Jasper just gave him a passing glance.

"You weren't gone long," Jasper said.

"Katie was at the coffee shop," Edward said. "I had to get out of there fast."

"I don't want to be rude but that girl can not take a hint."

"I know, honestly I think the only way she would stop at this point is if I wore a wedding ring," Edward said. "But that seems a little weird to do without actually being married."

"Guys wear rings on that finger all the time," Jasper said. "Emmet did until he lost his ring and it wasn't a purity ring either."

"I know he told me the story of how he got it and how he lost it," Edward replied. "I'm still not sure about it."

"What if it was a girl that gave it to you?" Jasper asked. "Would you wear it then?"

"Of course I would," Edward replied.

"Then go out and find you a girl that would buy you a ring and don't let her go," Jasper said. "Not let me finish watching Hans Gruber get thrown off a building."

"The best part is where McClane's wife cold cocks that stupid reporter."

"I wholeheartedly disagree with you on that," Jasper replied. "The yippy-ki-yay moment is the best part."

"No it is not," Edward said. "It is just a catchphrase, not a moment but have fun with it, I have applications to work on."

"I thought you had that internship already?" Jasper asked.

"I thought that I did too, but Dr. Burrell hasn't sent the paperwork for me to fill it out," Edward replied. "And until that happens I have no internship for this summer and I need one yesterday."

"Well good luck man," Jasper replied.

Edward nodded and headed for his bedroom. He quickly got to work setting up his desk for the hours of applications he would have to fill out. He didn't know which ones would have to be printed out and mailed in or which ones he could do online or which ones just required him to send in his resume. He looked up every hospital he could find in just about every major city in the country to see if they had a position open for what he needed and very few of them did, but of the few he got the applications filled out with the correct information and sent off to each of the perspective hospitals.

One he had hit send for the last time, Edward shut down his computer and threw himself on to his bed for a nap. He was exhausted even though most of the applications required the same information only a small number of them asked any kind of interview questions outside of his employment and education history.


	14. Gift 13

Bella got another card this morning. It had another hand-drawn image on the front with a heartfelt message written on the inside with green ink. She took it and tucked it inside the keepsake box she had put the other cards in. The box was almost full. Bella knew that if she got a single card for each day including Christmas the box would be full and wouldn't fit much else. Maybe just a small trinket or two.

Bella tapped the top of the box a couple of times before stepping away to get ready for her last class of the year which was rescheduled for today because of the potential storm coming in off the coast. The snow was already falling down like crazy. She would not be surprised if their flights were canceled on the eighteenth. She wrapped her scarf around her neck, slipped her hat on and pulled her gloves on before grabbing her bag and headed out the door.

The snow was falling like crazy already. If it got any heavier she wouldn't be able to see two feet in front of her. She kept her phone in her pocket just in case something happened on her way to class. She lost her footing a few times but thankfully she was close to a railing and was able to keep herself upright for the most part.

She was one of twenty students to show up for the class. Everyone sat in the first two rows as the professor let them ask any question about the subject the could come up with even if it was something he hadn't covered during the class. He even explained why he chose to become a professor than work in his chosen field (so he could be at home with his kids as his wife was an emergency room doctor and worked all kind of hours). Bella liked what he had to say but it meant that she had a lot of thinking to do. Her two majors was a lot and she could do a lot with them without going on to law school but she felt like she had to continue on.

"And that is the end of class," the professor said as a school bell ring tone filled the room. "I had a great time getting to know you all and for those of you that chose to continue on this path see you all next year for part two of this course."

There were several mumbles of thank you as the students packed up their bags and made their way out of the room.

"Hold on, I have something for each of you for showing up here for class even with the weather being as crazy as it is."

The students paused and watched as the professor pulled a small stack of cards out of his bag and started to hand them out. There was a short note written on the paper wrapped around the card. Bella read the note and then pulled the paper off and saw that It was just a ten dollar App Store gift card for Apple. She tucked the card into her pocket thanked her teacher. She then bundled up and entered out into the snow again.

She was almost home when she slipped and fell on her arm outside of a busy bodega. The bodega owner rushed right out to help her. She yanked her arm away from the man as him touching her arm made the pain worse.

"I'm sorry, I think it might be broken, do you want me to call an ambulance?"

"No, don't call anyone. Just help me up without touching my arm and I can get myself to the hospital." Bella replied.

"Okay," The man replied.

It took them a few tries to get Bella off the ground and into a cab. The pain was starting to get to her as the cab pulled up to the hospital. He jumped out and open Bella's door and watched as she entered the hospital as he didn't want her accusing him of something

Bella walked up to the desk got a clipboard of paperwork to fill out before she could be seen. It didn't take her long at all. She knew all her information memorized and wrote it all down before handing it back over to the nurse that gave it to her.

"Thank you, Have a seat and the doctor should be with you in a moment." the woman replied with a fake sweetness that drove Bella crazy.

"Your welcome," Bella replied.

She took a seat in front of the television bolted down television. She had drifted off to Judge Judy going off on some woman who wouldn't pay her rent for some stupid reason. She was woken up by another nurse telling her that the doctor could now see her. Bella followed the nurse down to a curtained off cubical. She climbed on to the bed and let the nurse take her vitals.

"Okay, Isabella can you tell me why you are here?"

"I think I broke my arm," Bella replied.

"And how did that happen?" the nurse asked.

"I was walking home from class and was just passing the bodega on the corner and slipped on a patch of ice."

"Is your arm the only thing that hurts?"

"Everything else feels fine," Bella said. "It was only my arm and my but that made contact with the ground."

"The doctor will probably send you to get X-rays taken but we will have to see what he wants to do," the nurse said. "And he should be with you in a moment. So sit back and relax."

"Okay," Bella replied.

Bella only had to wait fifteen minutes longer to see the doctor. He came into her exam room like he owned the place. He looked at her chart for a few minutes and poked her arm in a couple of places with his fingers asking what hurt.

"Of course it hurts," Bella snapped. "I slipped and fell on the concrete twenty minutes ago and haven't gotten anything for it."

"If all you are here for is pain medication then you can leave my emergency room right now," The doctor replied.

"I'm not here for drugs, I prefer not to take medication at all if I can avoid it," Bella replied. "I want my arm looked at now, please."

"Well you will need an x-ray once the room is open," the doctor replied. "And I just sent another patient there so it will be a while."

"Okay," Bella replied.

"I will also tell the nurse to give you a mild pain reliever and if it does prove to be broken I will prescribe you something a little stronger but only for the next few days."

"I'm fine with over the counter pain medication," Bella replied. "I have bad reactions if I take anything stronger than an Excedrin."

"What do you mean by that?" the doctor asked.

"Well the last time I was given morphine I tried to punch out the doctor when he tried checking my blood pressure."

"I've had a few patients like that. I will be sure to make note of that in your chart."

The doctor left Bella by herself after that. One nurse came in and gave her a very mild pain med and quickly checked her vitals. That same nurse would check back with her every few minutes as she passed by to see another patient. Finally, twenty minutes later a different nurse came to her and had her climb into a wheelchair. She was taken off to the x-ray room to have x-rays done.

The whole process of having her arm x-rayed hurt like hell but Bella grit through It. After having several x-rays taken Bella was taken back to the exam room where she again waited for the doctor.

The doctor arrived a few minutes later with her x-rays in hand. He pulled them from the envelope and attached them to the light board on the wall.

"You are a lucky lady Ms. Swan," the doctor said as he looked closer at the x-rays. "You almost needed surgery."

"So what? My arm isn't broken?"

"It is broken but you won't require surgery, I already have Nurse Colby getting the appropriate medication and a brace ready so we can get you out of here."

"I won't need a cast?"

"Not right now. The swelling has to go down before we can do that and we also have to make sure the bones don't sift again."

"Could I go to my regular doctor for this?" Bella asked.

"You man do as you please. I just have to treat you as much as I can while you are here unless you choose not to go through treatment."

"Thanks, that will be much easier to deal with," Bella replied. "The Christmas season must make things crazy around here."

"Only slightly more than the average day," The doctor replied. "But, Black Friday injuries were up this year compared to last year."

"That is why I refuse to go shopping on that day."

The doctor quickly finished the small talk with Bella and got to work on her arm. He was able to line up the bones without sending her into surgery. He sent her off with a prescription for medication and her arm in a sling to lessen the impact of moving around on her arm.

On her way home Bella stopped at a bodega/pharmacy combo that was run by two brothers that bickered like old ladies. Bella submitted her prescription to be filled and picked up a few things to eat. She only had a few minutes to wait until her name was called.

Bella was a little ticked off to see that the doctor had not listened to her when she said she didn't want any of the stronger pain meds because of how they changed her. She paid for the pills as there were only enough for seven days in the little orange cup. She stopped by the over the counter aisle and grabbed a bottle of extra strength Tylenol and headed to the front to pay for both items. She would have her dad get rid of the prescription when she headed home for Christmas in a couple of days.

Bella was never more grateful to be home and to have the place all to herself. Alice had moved into a hotel because she didn't want to risk Edward seeing her as she was still supposed to be in Paris. She took her first two Tylenol and settled in on the couch with her laptop binging on Veronica Mars episodes before moving on the movie. She had discovered the books back in October and read both of them within twenty-four hours and felt like she was missing a whole lot of information and found the show in the App Store a week later and bought them all. It took her a while to get through the first two seasons because of all the coursework and she just started the third season last night.

Bella was halfway through the episode spit and eggs when a Skype call interrupted the show. She saw that it was her dad calling and clicked on accept. She was a bit shocked to see her stepmother on the other side of the screen instead of her dad. like she thought.

"Hey, Sue," Bella greeted.

"Hi, Bella, I'm not sure how to go about this but you are upsetting your father by not coming home for Christmas."

"Sue, please calm down,"

"I will not calm down," Sue replied. "Your father means quite a lot to me and I will not have you upsetting him. I get not coming for Thanksgiving, that is your time with your mother but not coming home for Christmas..."

Sue trailed off letting what she said hang in the air.

"Sue, I am coming home. I have a friend that bought me a ticket as part of a Christmas gift so I told dad that I wasn't coming home so he wouldn't spend the money on a ticket for me."

"Why didn't you at least tell me?" Sue asked.

"Because I have been busy with finals and I have had more than one friend drag me out for the night. Jake is one of them," Bella replied. "I also just spent several hours in the hospital."

"WHAT?" Sue asked. "Why? Are you okay?"

"I am alright, I slipped on some ice and broke my arm."

"But you are okay? The doctor didn't give you morphine or I'm sorry I can't remember what other drugs you aren't supposed to have."

"That is okay," Bella replied. "At the hospital, I was able to keep them from giving me those drugs but at the pharmacy, I found that the doctor prescribed them to me anyway."

"Oh, sounds like he wasn't listening."

"He wasn't and I think he was a... well I don't want to say what I think he is because it is not polite to use those kinds of words."

"Thank you for not using them in front of me."

"No, problem," Bella said. "But I will get you the flight information so you know when to expect me."

"Will you need someone to pick you up at the airport or do you have a ride worked out? Because I can have my son pick you up on his way back from his school," Sue said.

"I'm going to ride back with the Cullen's," Bella said.

Bella heard a commotion off camera and Sue looked at something off screen.

"Your father just got home for dinner? Would you like to talk to him?"

"Not right now because of the excitement I think I would give the surprise away," Bella said. "I'll get the flight information and send it to you. Please do not tell him that I am coming. I want to see the surprise on his face when I show up."

"I promise I will," Sue replied. "I'll call you again after I get the flight information so we can plan your arrival."

"Okay, Bye Sue see you later."

Sue wave goodbye before turning her screen off, causing Bella's to go dark.

Bella exited out of the video calling app and continued to watch Veronica Mars catch the Hearst college rapist after narrowly becoming a victim herself. The rest of the third season was just as good to watch for Bella as the first half had been but she didn't like that the 'Castle' storyline was never resolved. She could only hope that the movie or Hulu's reboot would resolve that storyline even if it was just in flashback form.

"What happened to your arm?" Jake asked.

"I slipped and fell on some ice and broke it," Bella replied. "I won't get a real cast until the swelling goes down which could take a few days."

"That sucks," Jake said. "Are you going home for Christmas?"

"No, I think this will keep me from going anyway," Bella said. "I wouldn't feel comfortable going unless the doctor says it's okay."

"Why?"

"Because of Blood clots," Bella replied. "They can be quite dangerous after a long flight."

"Forgot about that," Jake replied. "Dad worries about that all the time; when we go to visit Rebecca and her family in Hawaii."

"Are you going to see here this year?"

"No, she's bringing the kids back to the reservation this year to show them where their mother grew up," She didn't do it before because the kids were just babies and she didn't want to be her mother on the plane with two screaming babies."

"Oh, well have fun."

"I will and my flight leaves at eight tomorrow night."

"Well if I don't see you tomorrow, goodbye, have a safe flight and enjoy your time with your sisters."

"I will, and I hope you have a good Christmas as well."

Jake entered his room to start packing as he always left packing to the last minute he could. Bella finished her Veronica Mars marathon and climbed into bed after taking another two Tylenol.

She was almost asleep when Jake popped into her room with her mail that he had picked up that morning.

"I put it on the kitchen counter but I guess you missed it."

"Thanks," Bella replied

"No problem, you would do the same for me; in fact, I think you have," Jake replied. "I'm going to finish packing."

Bella nodded and waited until Jake left the room to open the card. It was a generic holiday card and she knew this because her mom had sent the same one two days ago from Florida with some flighty message about family and the holidays. Inside the card from her secret Santa was a movie pass card and a note saying the card couldn't be returned and they would feel guilty using the card themselves when they bought it for someone else. Bella tucked the card into her keepsake box and placed the movie pass into her wallet before climbing back in bed and trying to get to the stage of sleep she was at before Jake had handed her the secret Santa gift/card.


	15. Gift 14

Bella was locking her front door when a man that was just barely over five foot five walked up to her. She didn't hear him at first as she had her earbuds in listening to a book on tape. She pulled away from the door and her earbud cord got caught on the knob pulling them out of her ears.

"Sorry miss, but could I have a moment of your time?" the man asked.

"I don't accept solicitors."

"I'm not here to sell you anything," The man said. "I think a gift for my girlfriend was sent to you by mistake."

"And how would you know that?" Bella asked.

"Her name is Isabelle Swain, she lives two floors below you in the same apartment," The man said. "I guess the postman got confused or something."

"What did you send her?" Bella asked.

"A card with a movie pass gift card inside."

"I did get that by accident. Give me a moment to find it and I will give it back to you."

The man just repeated thank you thank you over and over again as she unlocked her door to get the card. She left him waiting in the living room as she went to her bedroom. She quickly took the movie pass out of her wallet and put it back in the card and the inside the envelope. She then went to her living room and handed him the card back.

"Thank you. I have a series of gifts planned and a few of them will not make sense without this card here."

"Well, I'm happy to fix your Christmas."

"Oh I am Jewish, My girlfriend, however, does celebrate the holiday of Christmas."

"Well, Happy Hanukkah then and Merry Christmas to your girlfriend," Bella replied.

She ushered the man out of her apartment as she had a last minute job interview to get to. He was a little weird in Bella's opinion but not because he was Jewish, Bella knew a lot of Jewish people that weren't weird. The man exited the stairwell when they got to his girlfriend's floor leaving Bella alone and oddly enough she felt safer that way.

The snow was still falling when she reached street level. It was a graceful kind of snow you would see in snowy movie scenes, not the crazy snow you see on the news causing people to go nuts and empty out the shelves of their local bodega or wherever they get their crazy weather provisions from.

Bella always made sure she had candles, a camp stove, rice, water and several cans of soup just in case she was ever snowed in. It as something her dad insisted on with her living so far away from home. She and Alice used the stove to roast marshmallows one-night last year after the lights had gone out. Alice had complained that it wasn't the same without the chocolate and gram crackers.

She just may make herself some of those tonight depending on how her interview went. Thoughts of s'mores went out of her mind once the cab pulled to a stop in front of the company she had applied to.

The building was very sleek and modern in style. It was almost a little too modern for Bella who preferred something a little more rustic. In the center of the lobby was a round black granite desk with the company name affixed to the front in a fancy font and lit up from behind in colored LED lighting. There were two women in the middle of the desk taking care of everyone that walked up to them.

Bella slowly walked up to them clutching her bag to her shoulder. Both women were on the phone when she reached the desk. Bella waited patiently for them to get off the phone.

"Sorry for the wait ma'am, how may I help you today?"

"I'm here for a job interview with John Hilton Hospitality Inc."

"Oh, you can head on up to the sixth floor and speak with their receptionist."

"You said the sixth floor?" Bella asked.

"Yes, the elevator opens up into their lobby so you can not miss it," the receptionist said. "I'd tell you good luck but I don't think you are going to need it."

"Why is that?" Bella asked nervously.

"You are just their type."

"Thanks, I guess," Bella replied.

Bella slowly walked away from the desk and headed to the elevator bank. She pressed the up arrow and waited for the elevator to arrive. She slipped at the moment the doors opened up. She hit the button for the sixth floor and took a deep breath just before the elevator cab came to a rest on the sixth floor.

She stepped out into the lobby of John Hilton Hospitality Inc as she let out the breath she took in the elevator. Behind their reception desk was a woman that looked like she had the entire store of Sephora on her face. Her outfit looked better suited for a Nelly music video than an office receptionist but who knew maybe the woman might be heading out for a night on the town after work.

"Excuse me, I'm here for an interview," Bella said as she walked up to the desk.

"Do you know who you are interviewing with?" The woman asked.

"Not a clue, they just told me to show up today at this time," Bella replied.

Bella dug around in her purse for the job description that she had printed off the day before. She pulled it out and handed it to the receptionist.

"That is the job I applied for."

"This does help," the woman said. "Just go down the hall until you come upon a door with the name John Hilton written on it."

"Thank you," Bella replied.

"Be sure to knock first. He might still be conducting another interview."

Bella nodded and headed down the hallway the receptionist had pointed too. She walked down the whole hallway before finding the door with John Hilton written on it. The door was located across from the stairway access door and a small sitting area of worn down office furniture. Taped to the door just below the man's name was a sheet of white paper saying interview in-progress.

Bella knocked on the door and received a muffled reply. She knocked again hoping to get a more clear answer. A man shouted back.

"Five more minutes," The man shouted.

Bella took a seat in the least worn down chair and waited… and waited… and waited until a full hour had passed. If a man couldn't take the time to interview her within the time he gave her then she didn't want to work for him or anyone that worked with him. She took a pad of paper out of her bag and wrote a note to John Hilton. She was as polite as she possibly could be. Once she was done she stuck the note to his office door with a sticker she had found in her purse.

Bella had gotten two floors down when she realized she didn't have her wallet. She rushed back up the stairs and found it tucked between the back of the chair she had sat It and the seat of the chair. She causes a glance of a scantily dressed woman leaving John's office just as the staircase door closed. That made Bella very happy that she made the decision not to go through with the interview on top of all the waiting she'd done.

She was almost home when Alice called to ask her to join her for lunch. Bella was quite happy to join her as she didn't feel like cooking for herself at the moment. She met up with Alice at some café she had learned about while she was in Paris and today was the first time she could try it.

Bella had to admit the place Alice chose to eat at was nice, a little too girly and modern for her taste but the food was great so that evened out the experience for her. She had about half her meal packed up into a to-go box because the portions were so large.

While they were walking back to her apartment Bella told Alice all about her potential employer. Alice was all ready to send the man packages of open sardine cans that had sat out for a while. Bella told her to leave it and that she wasn't going to bother contacting the man or his company any further. Bella had a feeling her friend wasn't going to leave it alone.

After the conversation about John Hilton and his company came to an end Alice jumped onto the subject of her Secret Santa.

"So have you gotten anything from your Secret Santa today?"

"No, but I left before the mail arrived," Bella replied. "But it should be there when we arrive, so we'll see if anything pops up."

"I can't wait to find out who it is," Alice said. "It's like you have been dropped into the middle of a romantic movie."

"My life isn't any kind-of pride and prejudice."

Alice had quite disagreed with Bella quite vocally. She was so loud a passing older couple told Alice to quiet down. Bella just laughed at her.


	16. Gift 15

Edward was up before the sun came up. He had gone for a run around the block to keep his mind off Bella. He was chugging down a bottle of water as he microwaves his breakfast when Jasper finally woke up and trudged down the hallway into the living room where he plopped down on to the couch before turning on the morning news.

"I don't know why you watch that, its just more of the newscasters trashing whoever they have an issue with," Edward said. "And that could be anyone from the president to the local PTA mom."

"I watch the news for the human interest story's and for the weather. The app on my phone is never accurate," Jasper replied. "Have you started the coffee?"

"We are out of grounds," Edward replied. "You were supposed to buy more while you were out running errands yesterday."

"You were out all day yesterday too so why didn't you get it?" Jasper replied.

"I may have been out all day but I certainly didn't have the time to go shopping for essentials. I barely had any time to eat."

"Neither did I," Jasper replied.

Edward tossed his now empty water bottle into the recycling bin and took his breakfast out of the microwave and started to eat. Jasper looked at him.

"Dude quit looking at me. There's another one in the freezer or you could just go and grab my sister and take her out to breakfast."

"She's in Paris."

"No, she's not. I saw the two of you coming out Bella's apartment the other day."

Jasper didn't reply to Edward. He just remained quiet and turned his attention back to the news where the anchor was talking about the presidents latest blunder or the vice president's Edward was never sure anymore. Edward instead chose to ignore it and got ready for work. It was his last official day before the holiday. Today would also be the shortest shift he had ever worked since he had taken the job eight months ago.

Edward liked his job but he could not wait for college and then medical school to be over with. He wanted to treat his own patient he wanted to help someone more than just leading them to where the doctor wanted them to go. Once he was dressed and had his bag ready Edward slipped in his earbuds and left the apartment, giving Jasper a two finger wave on the way out.

The subway ride was a quiet one he spent the time writing his next gift to Bella. He had almost missed yesterdays gift but got it to her before she got home from wherever she had been. Today's card was a little different from the last few as the message was written on different paper to be stuffed inside the card. He still had a few of the gifts that he had originally bought for her as he couldn't find anyone who would want them and one of them he knew there would be no way that he would give it to anyone else even if Bella turned it down.

Glancing back at the letter he had been writing, Edward thought of what to say next. When he couldn't come up with anything to add he took the letter and card and put them back into his bag as the subway stop was coming up.

Bella ran into Edward on her way back to her apartment. He looked tired from his long day at work. He mumbled something about ordering dinner and then passing out watching some show she had never heard of on Hulu.

"I'm making homemade pizza, you can come eat some of it if you want to?" Bella said. "It would be quicker than ordering something in."

"Are you sure, because things haven't been the best with us lately," Edward said.

"Yes, I'm sure. Alice will be there and I know that you know she is home so you can't use that as a reason to say no."

"Fine, I'll come over for pizza but you have to let me clean up first. I had a four year old puke on me today," Edward said. "These shoes are a total loss. If I had a fireplace I would burn them."

"I don't blame you and that explains the smell."

"Are you saying I stink?"

"Yes, and you stink more than that aftershave you wore during junior year."

"Hey, I was just trying to expand my horizons beyond just old spice."

"By raiding your dad's aftershave collection," Bella said. "You smelled horrible and there is nothing wrong with your basic old spice aftershave."

"And what do you know about that?" Edward asked.

"I used my dad's when I first started shaving my legs," Bella said. "But back to the pizza, we start making them at six and backing them by seven."

Edward nodded as Bella departed the stairwell. She went straight to her apartment to find the front door wide open and the living room speakers blasting some video game down the main hallway. She bolted into the apartment to see Paul instead of Jake sitting on the couch in his boxers with bags of chips, cans of soda and bottles of beer strewn about the couch on either side of him.

"Where in the hell is Jake?" Bella asked.

"His boss called him in. He said I could make myself at home."

"So you just decided that it was okay to leave the front door wide open and to eat us out of house and home?" Bella shouted. "That food is supposed to last me a month and now it won't last me the rest of the week."

"You don't have to be such a bitch about it," Paul replied.

"That is it," Bella snapped.

She walked over to the television and pulled the power cord to the system free of the plug and detached all other cords from the system before taking it back to her room and locking it in the footlocker at the foot of her bed. She went back to the living room where Paul remained.

"You need to clean up this dam mess and get the hell out of my apartment and don't worry I will be telling Jake that you are no longer welcome here."

"You can't do that," Paul said. "Jake lives here too."

"He does but he is not on the lease," Bella replied. "You have one hour."

She turned on her heel and headed back into her room where she closed the door and locked it. She then pulled out her phone and sent a message to Alice and Edward saying that pizza night was called off. She then called Jake and ripped into him for leaving Paul alone in the apartment and them sent him a picture of what she had walked in on. Jake had said nothing and hung up on her.

She heard nothing else until twenty minutes later when she heard Paul tell Jake that his roommate was a bitch. Bella unlocked her bedroom door and opened it a little bit to hear Jake and Paul a little better.

"I don't blame her Paul when I left this place was spotless and now it looks like the frat threw a freaking party in here," Jake said. "I said you could make yourself at home, not trash the place."

"So I ate a few chips and had a few beers. What Is the big deal?" Paul replied.

"The big deal is that it is not even five o'clock yet and you are twelve beers in."

"Fine, I will replace the beer and chips I ate."

"The soda too," Jake replied. "And you need to leave once you clean this up. I know you don't like your place now that your fiancée left but you can't stay here anymore."

"Some friend you are after all I've done for you."

"I never told you to do anything. You deleted that message yourself even after I told you not to."

"Oh come on you are always staring at her like she hung the moon."

"I was staring at her ass," Jake said. "There were no romantic feelings what so ever besides even if I did have feelings for her I couldn't act on them. She's in love with someone else now get this cleaned up."

Bella heard Jake's footsteps get louder and then fade away as he entered his room and closed the door. Bella closed her own door and went back to her phone to find that Alice and Edward both had left her messages to meet them at the Pizzeria they discovered their first week alone in New York. Bella changed into warmer clothing as the day had gotten colder as the sky grew darker.

By the time she left the living room was cleaned up and Paul was gone. She closed the front door and locked it. Jake could unlock it if he needed to. She then finally headed out to the Pizzeria where Alice and Jasper were already waiting for her. Edward had yet to arrive.

"I already ordered your pizza and Edward's," Alice said.

"The waitress was getting kind of pissy that we were only ordering drinks," Jasper said. "We just ordered and she has been the most pleasant person to deal with now."

"Where is Edward?" Bella asked.

"We thought he was coming with you."

"I haven't seen him since he got home from work," Bella said. "As you know I was held up in my bedroom because of Jake's friend."

"Well ignore thoughts of him and enjoy this good greasy cheesy pizza," Alice said as she spotted the waitress.

The woman in question brought out their pizzas and set them down on the table without a single word to them. The waitress didn't even bother to take Bella's drink order. Alice was ready to get the manager but Jasper calmed her down and said maybe the girl was just having a bad day. After eating half of their pizza's they asked for to-go boxes and packed up what was left over.

On the way home, Alice decided to check out of her hotel and spend the rest of her time at Bella's now that Edward knew she was home a few days early. They decided that they were going to binge watch some Korean drama that Alice had become hooked on while in Paris. Bella laughed as Alice told Jasper to fend for himself.

Alice sent Jasper on his way with the to-go boxes filled with his and Edward's pizzas and a kiss on the cheek. Jasper kissed her cheek back and continued on up the stairs complaining about useless the elevator was the whole way Bella was sure of it.

Bella found a card taped to her front door. She pulled it off as she unlocked the door and allowed Alice to enter the apartment first. She tossed her stuff onto her desk and went to make two bowls of popcorn as Alice liked to put hot sauce on hers and Bella prefers to stay with your basic salt.

By the time Bella entered her bedroom, Alice had the first episode up and ready to go. Bella handed her bowl of popcorn over and made herself comfortable against the wall and Alice did the same on the floor.

"Okay, so what Is the show about?" Bella asked after the first episode.

"It's about Soon-Jin who mask himself as a rich kid at his exclusive privet school and him falling in love with Hae-Won who's father is high up in the government and does not care for Soon-Jin one bit," Alice explained. "There is more to his story than that but I do not want to give any spoilers away."

"Okay, then start the next one," Bella replied.

And true to form by the end of the first season Bella was hooked on the show just like Alice was.


	17. Gift 16

Bella woke up on the sixteenth to find a rose with a small card tied to it with red ribbon taped to her front door. She smiled and took the rose and put it into a small vase her mom had sent her sometime last year just because she thought that Bella would like it.

She was about to leave and go get some breakfast when Jake walked in the front door with a strange look on his face. It was a look that had Bella quite worried. She set the vase down on a table and turned her attention towards Jake.

"Are you doing okay? Because you do not look so hot right now," Bella said.

"I'm okay, I just have something to tell you but I'm not sure how to do so," Jake said.

"Do it like a bandaid."

"I really can't but I'll try anyway, Do you remember that date you had planned with Edward?"

"Of course I do."

"Well, Paul is the one that deleted a message from Edward asking you to meet up at nine instead of seven because he was running late."

"Why would he do that?"

"Because he thought that I was in love with you and for a few weeks I thought that I was," Jake replied. "But then I went out with a girl just like your but from some small town here in New York and her dad was Mayor and not a sheriff."

"So you found someone what does it have to do with anything?" Bella replied.

"The point is that the relationship didn't work. Clara and I just didn't work besides she was still in love with her high school boyfriend and I need someone who understands me and what my future role will be."

"You deserve some like that," Bella said. "It would be hard to live a life worthwhile if you didn't have someone with you to help when needed."

"Thanks, that is nice to know," Jake said. "And, I am sorry that Paul screwed up your date."

"You have no reason to apologize for what Paul did. He is the one that did it so he is the one that should be saying sorry," Bella replied. "It is nice to know that you had nothing to do with that."

"So are you going to talk to Edward?"

"Maybe after the holidays have passed. I don't want to screw up someone's Christmas if things didn't work out," Bella replied. "Plus I worry about losing Alice as a friend if things don't work out."

"She'd be an idiot if she let your relationship with her brother ruin her relationship with you."

"That is very nice of you to say."

"It's true," Jake said. "I have to get to work if I don't get there today I won't have enough to pay you off for the rent and bills I skipped."

"What makes you want to pay it now?"

"My sister found out and ripped me a new one," Jake said. "She told me that a grown man no matter what his age is should at least try to pay his bills even if he knows he can't pay them."

"Well I was just headed out to see Alice dressed up as one of Santa's elves in that Christmas village set up by some charity," Bella replied. "Jasper was supposed to be Santa but got called in to work an early shift. I told him I would get a picture of Alice for him."

"Well have fun and be careful, three is a lot of snow out there you don't want your arm to get worse or have your other arm looking identical."

"I know about the snow and ice, it is why I called for a cab."

Bella gave Jake a quick good buy and rushed downstairs to reach her cab in time. The last time she took too long someone stole her cab and left her with the bill. It took her months to get the charge taken off of her account. She made it out to the street just as the cabbie climbed out to open the passenger door for her.

"Where to ma'am?" He asked before closing the door.

Bella took the address she had written down and handed it to him.

"I can't pronounce the charity's name," Bella replied.

"I know where it is," He replied. "My sister works with them every holiday."

Bella nodded that she understood but turned her attention to her phone as Alice had just sent her a text of two potential costumes she could wear. Bella took her time to look at both of them. One looked like an even sluttier version of the dresses worn by Regina George and her girls during the Christmas scene in mean girls. The other elf outfit looked like it was stolen from the set of Tim Allen's movie The Santa Clause or any of its sequels.

The cab pulled to a stop a half block from the Christmas village and let Bella out. She walked the rest of the way without incident. When she got to the Christmas village it was like Santa threw up. She was greeted at a 'candy cane gate' by two elves dressed in outfits similar to ones Alice had sent her pictures of.

Bella paid the entry fee and was given a bright red bracket and a strip of tickets that would be used for a raffle on Christmas Eve night Bella had no idea what the raffle was for but the money all went to charity as all prizes and gifts were donated to the charity for this very event. Bella made her loop around the Village three times before stopping at Santa's workshop to see if Alice was out and about in her uniform (she wasn't.

Bella was on her sixth lap around the village when she ran into Edward.

"Did Alice drag you into attending this as well?" Edward asked.

"Yes but she did not get me to dress up with her," Bella replied. "There is no way in heck she would ever get me to put on a single stitch of those outfits."

"I am kind of shocked that she is wearing something that isn't a natural fiber."

"After her allergic reaction to that wool scarf your aunt gave her last year, I don't blame her."

"I don't either," Edward said. "Since we are both here you want to hang out?"

"I've got nothing better to do."

Bella and Edward spent the rest of their time at the village hanging out. Edward even got Bella a hot chocolate when the temperature started to get too cold. They ran into Jasper stopping by on his lunch break to see Alice since he hadn't been able to dress up as Santa as he had originally planned. Bella was able to get a picture of the two of them together before the line of parents threw a fit.

"I know Alice wanted me to stay until she completed her shift but I have been here hours now and my feet are killing me. I am going home," Bella said.

"I'll go with you," Edward replied. "It would be kind of creepy for me to stay here by myself. I wouldn't want to get arrested for…"

"No need to finish that statement. A grown man without his own child at an event geared toward children and he had nothing to do with it's set up."

"Man, that sounds even creepier," Edward replied. "So are you ready to go?"

"Yes," Bella said.

The duo walked home quietly as the snow began to fall again. Edward walked slightly behind Bella just Incase she slipped on the snow or ice hidden under the snow. To anyone around them they would look like any other couple instead of the friends, they were even though both would much prefer to be in a couple with the other and were too nervous about how the other one felt to speak up right then and there.

Once the got to their apartment building Edward escorted her up to her apartment where he said goodbye before heading on up to his own apartment. She was slipping her boots off as she played the messages on her answering machine. One was from her doctor reminding her of her appointment that day so they could check on how her arm was healing up.

Her appointment was in twenty minutes and her doctor's office was about fifteen minutes away. Bella quickly through her boots back on grabbed her bag and headed out to visit her doctor. She left her doctors office forty minutes later with her arm covered in a brand new white cast. Alice would be disappointed that she didn't pick the hot pink color but that wasn't Bella. She would have picked the one covered in soccer balls before she would pick pink. Besides the white cast allowed for more people to sign it.


	18. Gift 17

The gift Bella received from her Secret Santa on the seventeenth was cute. It was a blue background with white silhouette of Jesus, Mary and Joseph the North Star had a bit of light glitter on it to make it stand out against every thing else. Inside was a note telling her that a donation had been made in her name to a charity that spent their time helping men and women who have been in bad relationships get up off their feet and away from their abusive partner.

"That today's gift?" Jacob asked.

"Yes, It was a donation to a charity in my name," Bella replied. "It's the one that I plan on donating some time to this summer and I would like to provide legal advice once I pass the bar exam because there are so many people that stay in relationships that just don't work because they don't have the legal know how to get out with what they deserve."

"That's nice of you, there is this guy in my math class that plans on becoming a lawyer but only because he wants to be making money," Jake replied. "I just wanted to laugh because there are a lot of lawyers out there who barely make it by and live day to day."

"Oh, I know that, the lawyer that inspired me to want to become a lawyer as well spends most of their time working as a privet detective."

"Seriously?" Jake asked.

"Yes, and they make enough to live comfortably," Bella replied. "And they have had some interesting cases so I could even go the same route as them but I have to graduate from law school first."

"What school are you going to?" Jake asked.

"I have no idea at the moment. I should find out by the end of this school year," Bella replied. "I'm hoping for Colombia because it will allow me to stay here in New York but I also applied to schools on the west coast so I can have all my bases covered."

"For what it's worth I hope you get to stay, I wouldn't want to pay for this place without you."

"I thought you were moving in with Paul?"

"That fell through ," Jake said.

"No because of what he did to me is it,"

"No, he is a jerk to everybody since his fiancée left him, and I just don't want to deal with that any more," Jake replied. "Do you have the time, my phone died and I have to be at work soon."

"It's eight forty-five."

"Crap, I've got to go. I will see you tonight."

"Actually you won't," Bella replied.

"Why?" Jake asked.

"Alice and I are staying the night at a hotel close to the airport so we don't have to rush so much in the morning to get to our flight."

"So you are having a slumber party,"

"I wouldn't call it that but in away we are, now get to work before you are late."

Jake departed without another goodbye and Bella went back to watching the movie hallmark was playing on their mystery station. The mystery was a bit lack luster but the romance part of the movie was alright. The movie had just gone off when Alice texted her to start packing if she hadn't already finished which Bella had finished up last night as she watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

She would rather be working the past couple of days but working for Mr. Witherdale was not an option. Angela had also quit but she got a job as a receptionist at a small doctors office three days after she quit. Jessica as far as she knew still worked for the man, even though she didn't like the girl she still hoped that she wouldn't get hurt but knew that was likely to happen.

Several hours later Alice showed up at the apartment with burgers from her favorite restaurant and roped Alice into watching the rest of the Korean show from the other day. Bella still had no idea what the actual name of the show was but she liked it. She didn't like it as much as Alice did but she could admit that it was a good show and would watch another season of the show if it had another season. After finishing up the Korean show Alice helped Bella finish packing before they headed out to the hotel. Alice had apparently gotten a spa package for the both of them without even telling Bella.

"So where is Jasper for the night?" Bella asked in between treatments.

"He and Edward got a room at the hotel right by the airport," Alice replied. "I would have done the same but I know that neither of us can sleep with all the plane traffic so I picked this hotel instead."

"Thank you the last time I staid at an airport hotel I was with my mom and developed a migraine the size of Texas."

"Speaking of your mom what is she doing for Christmas?"

"Well she's going through a non-celebratory faze and is dragging Phil across Europe for two weeks," Bella replied. "She said she might stop by for New Years but I'm not getting my hopes up for that besides I am not even sure if I will be back in New York in time for New Years."

"I've always wanted to take part in time square New Years celebrations but I have heard just about every single roomer you could."

"I'd avoid it," Bella replied.

"You don't like crowds," Alice said. "But I do like crowds."

"You would be correct I do not like being among a lot of people or being the center of attention but I do remember telling you last year before you went to Paris that when ever I get married," Bella paused to take a drink. "That you would get to throw me a bachelorette party anywhere that you wanted to."

"I had forgotten that. Thanks for reminding me," Alice said.

Bella did not have a good feeling about the look of joy that now appeared on Alice's face. It was one that appeared whenever she was in planning mode. The last time it happened was around Christmas last year when Alice set Bella up on a blind date with a guy from one of New York's famous families. The guy turned out to be one of the biggest jerks that Bella ever met. It took all that she had in her not to slap him across the face when he said his wife would not be working but staying at home to take care of the four kids they had.

"Alice why don't you put this much effort into your bachelorette party or wedding events?" Bella asked.

"Oh I plan to. I have three binders of ideas for my wedding and two for my bachelorette slash bridal shower because I am not sure which one of those that I want to have yet," Alice replied. "It's a bit pretentious to have both."

"Alice I think that the bachelorette party is for the bride and her friends and the bridal shower is something you can bring your mothers or older female family members to," Bella replied.

"I might have to do both then," Alice replied. "What about you?"

"I don't have much for female family members so I guess it depends on how many females are in my future fiancé family."

"Are you two ladies planning on getting engaged this Christmas?" one of the spa workers asked.

"Only Alice has a chance," Bella replied. "She actually has a boyfriend."

"You have a chance to," Alice said. "Maybe that is what your Secret Santa is leading up to."

"That would be a very bad idea," Bella said.

"You are done, ma'am."

Bella gathered up her things and turned to face Alice.

"I am going back up to the room is there anything you'd like me to order for you?"

"The loaded taco fries, they sound really good right now."

Bella nodded and headed back up to their hotel room. It was small and only had one bed but it would be okay for one night and she could always sleep in the tub like Kyle-XY if Alice end up taking over the bed like a toddler having trouble sleeping. It wouldn't be the first time she had to do this and she was sure it wouldn't be the last. She set her things down on the dresser the hotel sat the tv on and went over to the phone to order their dinner. The food arrived just after Alice came up front the spa much to Alice delight. The binged on Hallmark Christmas movies as they ate until they both full.

Both women went to bed about midnight because they had to get up early in the morning to make their flight on time. Alice even made sure that they had a wake up call in place with the front desk clerk.


	19. Gift 18

Bella and Alice made it to the plane on time as did Jasper and Edward. Bella, Alice and Jasper were all able to board the plane as planned but Edward got bumped because they over booked the flight and no one else wanted to give up their seat except for Bella but Alice said she was making sure Bella went home for the holiday. Edward had agreed with Alice about getting Bella home and decide to take the next available flight which was about three hours later. Edward lounged around the airport while everyone else fell asleep on the plane.

Edward was a bit disappointed that he couldn't ride the plane next to Bella but it did give him a little more time to put the eighteenth gift together as the idea came to him as he window shopped in the airport shops. He knew Bella wouldn't like the money that was spent on it but he also knew that Bella would love it; at least he hoped she would and the gift didn't really cost that much but the personalization of it did add a bit to the price.

Finally after several hours of waiting Edward was allowed to board a plane. He was able to do so earlier than the ticket taker thought because someone canceled their flight leaving a seat open he just had to rush from one terminal to another to make the flight in time and he would also have to change planes in Chicago. He was seated next to an older man going to visit his daughter and new grandchild in Chicago. He even offered Edward his window seat because he had to use the restroom quite a lot.

Edward sent a quick text to his family letting them know that he was able to get a flight and was only a few hours behind Alice before turning his phone off and waiting for the plane to take off. He made sure to keep an eye on his seat mate as the man didn't seem to be feeling to great. It wasn't until they were about to land in Chicago that the man's hands started to shake.

"Sir are you alright?" Edward asked.

"I am fine, My blood sugar probably got too low," he replied.

"Okay, do you have your meter with you?" Edward asked. "What do you normally do when you get like this?"

"I usually keep fruit snacks for a minor low but I ran out of them yesterday and didn't see the point in getting more when I was going out of town." The man replied.

"Can you tell me your name and where you are headed?" Edward asked just to see how bad the man was.

"Johnathan DaCosta and I'm headed to see my daughter Janice DaCosta-Lee in Chicago since she just gave birth to my first grandchild."

"That is a great sign you can tell me that without any trouble. Is there anything that you are allergic to?"

"Selfish, why do you want to know?"

"Because I am going to see if they have anything to help get your sugar up so you don't pass out on us," Edward said.

Edward found the call button for the flight attendant and pushed it several times in a row. He knew it bugged the hell out of them when people did that but they had a potential medical emergency on their hands and he was trying to prevent it.

"Is there something you needed sir?"

"This man has low blood sugar if he doesn't get it up in a safe and timely manner he could very well slip into a diabetic coma. I know we are about to land but is there anything you can give him?"

"We are running low but I can check."

"Please do," Edward said.

The flight attendant walked back to the galley. She came back with a small glass of orange juice.

"I'm sorry sir but this is all we had. We have to restock in Chicago."

"It should help." Johnathan replied.

Edward kept an eye on the man as he took sips from the cup. After about five minutes he was looking a little bit better but not by much. Johnathan pulled a small black device out of his back and tested his blood sugar. Edward looked away as it wasn't his business what Johnathan's blood sugar was. He still looked a little too pale for Edward's liking and thought that Johnathan was going to need some medical attention.

Johnathan had finished his cup of juice by the time the final announcement was made and packed up his meter as it was on the table one minute and gone the next. The flight attendant that gave Johnathan the cup came back around to pick the empty cup up and make sure they were securely fastened into their seat and the table were put up.

Edward was quite happy to be back on the ground. He wanted to get Johnathan the help he needed and waited with him.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Chicago, the local time is ten forty-two a.m." The flight attendant said. "For your safety please remain seated with your seat belts fastened until the captain turned off the fasten seat bell sign. If you require help while deplaning please remain in your seat until all other passengers have deplaned and a crew member will be glad to assist you."

Fifteen minutes later the seat belt sign went off and everyone started to rush to get their things from the over head bins and the seats in front of them. Edward undid his seat belt and grabbed his carry-on but stayed with Jonathan until he got the medical help he clearly needed.

"Did you need help?" the flight attendant asked. "Is your blood sugar still low?"

"I feel too dizzy to walk," Johnathan said.

"We can get you a wheel chair."

"Thank you," Johnathan said barely above a whisper.

"Hey Johnathan is this bag yours?" Edward asked pulling a brown shoulder bag from the ground.

Johnathan nodded yes that it was his.

"Is your meter in here?"

Again Johnathan nodded. Edward knew Johnathan wasn't doing to well. The shaking of his hands had come back and he was losing his color again. The juice wasn't working anymore. Edward opened the bag and found the meter and everything else necessary to test his blood sugar again.

Johnathan wasn't able to test his blood sugar himself but he could tell Edward how he did it. Once Edward saw the result he knew that Johnathan wasn't going to his daughters house. He needed a hospital.

"Johnathan I think you are going to need a visit to the hospital," Edward said as he showed Johnathan what his meter said.

"But my daughter is waiting for me."

"She can go with you we still have to call the ambulance."

Johnathan nodded.

"Okay what is your daughter's name?"

"I told you earlier it was Janice," Johnathan said. "She said she would be here to pick me up."

"Good you still got your wits about you."

The flight attendant finally showed up with a wheel chair.

"He can still use it but he's going to need an ambulance. His blood sugar is too low and the organize juice he had earlier didn't work," Edward said. "He also said his daughter was waiting for him."

"Do you know her name she could be paged."

"He said it was Janice DaCosta."

Edward helped the fight attendant with Johnathan and got him off the plane and over to his daughter who was waiting at the baggage claim with her husband and new born son. Janice was immediately on them once she saw her fathers condition. Edward and the flight attendant told her everything that has gone on with her father.

"Thank you for helping him," Janice said before they departed ways.

Edward responded by giving her his number because he wanted to hear how her father was doing. She took the piece of paper and handed it off to her husband before turning her attention to her father.

Edward turned and walked away figuring that he wasn't needed anymore. He was about to go and grab something to eat when he heard the boarding call for the second half of his flight. He grabbed his carry-on and rushed over to the gate. He barely made it in time.

"Cutting it close," The ticket taker said.

"Last flight ran long," Edward replied.

"Well good luck with this one."

"Thanks," Edward replied.

The ticket taker motioned for him to board the plane and turned their attention to the next person in line.

Edward's second flight went by quicker than the last one and it was longer. He checked his messages just after the plane touched down in Seattle and saw that his family had already headed back to forks but there was a rental car waiting for him at one of the places that operated at the airport.

He found the rental company pretty easily. It was the one that they used moved most often when taking trips. The clerk that maned the counter quickly gave him the key and had him signed the paper work before he was allowed to take possession of the car.

He found the car where they said it was. The car it's self looked to be about ten years old. It was a four door compact sedan from the Ford motor company. He tossed is bag into the passenger seat; the motioned caused the bag to open and his latest gift for Bella to fall out. He figured he could drop it off at Charlie's place before heading to his parent's place.

 **Bella** was excited to be home for the holidays. She was in the back seat of the Cullen's Land Rover heading back to Forks after being picked up at the airport. They had decided to drive past Charlie's house to see if he was home before dropping her off. Charlie wasn't but his wife was.

"Are you sure you are okay with this?" Alice asked.

"Yes, I have to meet her some time and this will allow me to rest some before Charlie get's home for lunch or dinner depending on what is going on," Bella replied.

"Well dear, you are always welcome at our place if you need it," Esme said.

Jasper climbed out at the same time as Bella and helped her carry her bags to the front porch. Bella knocked on the door as Jasper walked away. Sue was quick to answer the door.

"Bella you are early, Your father won't be home until after two."

"That's fine, it will be easier to surprise him that way."

"Alright then, your room is all set up for you. I even changed the sheets."

"Thank you," Bella replied.

Sue led Bella to her bedroom and she was right the room was just as she left it the last time she was here except for the sheets which were now a pale blue with a white flower print on them and they had been a plain purple when she left.

"Thanks for the fresh sheets," Bella called after her awkwardly.

Sue turned around and smiled before going back to whatever she was doing. Bella placed her bags on the trunk at the foot of her bed and went to the only bathroom in the house to freshen up. Once she was done cleaning up Bella went looking for Sue and found her in the kitchen washing dishes.

"So when did you and my dad get married?" Bella asked.

"We got married on October nineteenth. It was a Friday and we didn't want to wait… well we did for a few reasons but then your dad got hurt on the job. It was just a sprained ankle but I didn't know that and all these crazy ideas of what happened to him went though my mind."

"I get it. I always got jumpy when someone knocked on the front door or called whenever he was on duty," Bella replied. "I always thought the worst was happening."

"Well it's the same for me," Sue said. "But after he realized he was okay we went right to the court house to get the marriage license. We would have gotten married right then and there but the law requires you to wait three days so we got married that Friday."

"Don't you have kids?" Bella asked. "I seem to remember you having kids."

"I have two. There is Leah who is away this holiday with her boyfriend and his family and there is Seth who should be home from school around three."

"What grade is he in?"

"He is a senior in high school. He skipped two grades and want to go to college at some school in New York."

"There are a lot of good schools there."

"I know but he is my baby and I don't want to lose him and he is only sixteen."

"I honestly don't know what to tell you because he is sixteen and still a minor but I do understand your worries but maybe you should look into the schools he wants to attend and see what they might do to alliterate your concerns."

"I never thought to do that," Sue replied. "You are a very smart girl."

"Thanks," Bella said.

"No thanks needed," Sue said.

Sue and Bella both jumped as the front door flew open.

"Mom I'm home."

"I can see that Seth, I'd like to know why you are home early?"

"I was let out early," He replied as he tossed his bag to the floor. "Who is she?"

"I would think you would know by the pictures hanging on the wall."

"I don't pay attention to pictures too many of them can be faked in this day and age."

"True but its hard to fake a DNA test," Bella said. "Charlie's my dad so I guess that makes you my new stepbrother."

"Yeah I guess it does," Seth replied.

"Good you to have met, Seth take your bag to your room. You know I don't like things just laying around on the floor and change your clothes we are going out to dinner with Charlie at the lodge."

"He will love that," Seth said with a smirk.

Bella turned toward Sue as Seth disappeared down the hallway with his bag.

"What did he mean by that?" Bella asked.

"The Lodge has come under new management since the last time you were here and they have made quite a few changes to the menu and your father greatly dislikes it but its still the place in town to eat."

"Did the wardrobe requirements change?" Bella asked.

"Nope, they are still the same."

Bella, Seth and Sue hopped in the car and made their way over to the police department to pick up Charlie. Bella sat in the back of the car while Sue sent Seth in to the building to get Charlie to keep the surprise a little longer. Her dad came out of the station carrying his hat. He looked quite happy chatting with Seth as they walked to the car. Seth climbed into the back beside her and her dad climbed into the passenger seat next to Sue and kissed her on the cheek.

"Let's go eat," He said as he buckled himself in. "Seat belt Seth."

"Already on," Seth replied.

Once they made it to the restaurant Sue and Seth climbed out of the car first followed by Charlie.

"Seth close the door already," Charlie said.

"Can't one more person needs to get out."

Bella chose that moment to climb out of the car and greet her father.

"Bella, what are you doing here? I thought that you were staying in New York."

"Alice bought my ticket so I changed my mind," Bella said. "She's my best friend and I love her but man that girl never listens."

Charlie walked over and hugged his daughter.

"I am glad you are here. Now what happened to your arm?"

"I slipped on some ice and broke it," Bella replied. "It happened a few days ago so I wasn't even sure if I would be able to fly because of clothing issues but my doctor said I was okay to fly when I went to see them."

"I wish you would have told me," He replied.

"I didn't want to worry you," Bella said. "No let's go eat."

The group walked into the Lodge. It would be one of the only times Bella would see her father visibly groan. While the outside of the restaurant looked like the log cabin she remembered the inside had been turned into a moderne screwed up version of what it had been before. To Bella it looked like Paris Hilton's version of a hunting lodge.

"Dad, I can see why you are starting to dislike this place," Bella said.

"Oh I am starting to loath this place," He replied. "But Sue likes it so I suffer through it for her."

"And that's nice of you dear," Sue said.

"Follow me please," the hostess said.

They were led to a four top table and quickly sat down and went over the menu's that were much thinner than Bella remembered. It was also fancier than Bella remembered. Bella picked the one she recognized the most before handing the menu over to the waitress.

The rest of dinner went by quickly with Bella filling her dad in on her life in the big city. Even Seth asked her a few questions. Sue dropped Charlie off at work and Seth and Bella at the house before going to a book club meeting.

There was a plain brown box waiting on the porch. Seth picked the box up before handing it off to Bella.

"Its for you from a Scott Calvin," Seth said as he unlocked the door. "Is he your boyfriend?"

"Don't have one. Must be a professor from next semester," Bella replied.

Seth opened the door and allowed Bella to enter first. Seth parked himself in front of the TV and turning on a PlayStation, while Bella headed back to her room where she closed the door to give herself some privacy. She set the box on her old desk and dug around in her purse to get her keys and use them to cut the box open. Tucked inside the box was a small white bear with a red Santa hat on it's head and a red tie with her name sewn on to it. She took the bear and set it on a bookshelf next to a picture of herself and Alice at their high-school graduation.

Underneath the bear was a small card that usually came with flowers. One side of the card was filled with snowflakes and Santa hats and the other side was filled with a handwritten note.

 _Bella,_

 _I saw this little guy while heading home._

 _I thought that he needed a home for_

 _Christmas and thought of you._

 _Your Secret Santa_


	20. Gift 19

Bella was up early with Sue getting to know the woman who was now her step-mother a little better. Bella oddly enough felt better about the woman her dad was going to spend the rest of his life with.

"Bella can you get that silver mixing bowl for me?" Sue asked. "I need it to the dough can rest."

"Should I grease it up?" Bella asked.

"If you don't mind."

"This even happens every year and I help out every year but I always feel rushed."

"Well I can help you if you'd like," Bella replied. "Just tell me what you need me to do."

"If it really is no trouble could you start on the cookies," Sue replied. " I have everything for sugar, snickerdoodle, chocolate chip and peanut butter."

"I'm guessing these are for the Policemen's Annual Christmas Party for Children?"

"Yes and with the way things have gone finically for a lot of families in town it has grown to be quite the production." Sue replied. "It takes ever little donation we can get and I like to help by making baked goods of all kinds. The cookies and this dough are just the beginning of it."

"So how long does it usually take you to get everything done?" Bella asked.

"Two days by myself but this year I was able to get the new bakery about to open up to donate the cakes so I got that off my shoulders," Sue replied. "And you are helping with the cookies so that helps too."

"So that is why you started today and the party is Friday."

"Yes, I vacuumed seal everything to keep the freshness, and start with the sugar cookies as the dough has to rest for at least a couple of hours before I even start to mess with it."

"The recipe says twenty-four hours."

"That's what I prefer but I don't always have the time to wait that long but with you helping I guess I will."

Bella smiled awkwardly and started to work on the sugar cookie dough. It was an easy one but she had to make several batches so they would have enough dough to complete the order Sue had to fill. She was working on the last batch of sugar cookies when Sue started to talk again.

"So Seth told me you got a package delivered here?"

"Yeah it was from a secret Santa. I have no idea… well I have some ideas who it might be but I have no actual proof who it is just feelings," Bella replied. "Nothing has spooked me yet but getting a gift while here in Forks does give me a little proof but I'm not sure if I want to confront them or not."

"Well you know your father would want to run a background check,"

"I know he'd want to but Im not sure if he could actually do that. They do have a lot of rules to follow."

Bella quickly finished up the last batch of sugar cookie dough and put it in the fridge to chill and started in on the chocolate chip cookies but couldn't find any chocolate chips or brown sugar.

"Sue we don't have any chocolate chips or brown sugar and we need both of them for the next cookie."

"My keys are on the table in the front hall and there is some spare cash in the…"

"Coffee can above the stove label old oil," Bella said. "Dad started doing that once I got old enough to be left on my own. He didn't want to leave the money out in the open so he put it in the old coffee can he hadn't thrown out. I guess he still does it even though I'm not home."

"Oh I never have cash on me any more so when your father or Seth for that matter wants pizza for dinner it is easier to pay for the pizza and tip the driver."

"Yeah dad does like his pizza and wings," Bella replied as she pulled a twenty out of the coffee tin.

Bella set the ingredients off to the side picked the money back up and headed out the door to the store. It didn't take her long to get there and find what she needed. The store had a baking center set up so she picked up a large bag of brown sugar and spent five minutes debating what chocolate she wanted for the cookies before decided to grab multiple types so there was some variety in that type of cookie and headed for the checkout.

 **Just checked we are out of powdered sugar for the icing could you pick some up?**

 **Hope this got to you in time. SUE**

Bella turned around and went to get the powdered sugar Sue asked for

 **How many?** Bella sent back.

As she waited for Sue to text back Bella looked at the other baking items the store had. There was quite a few items that were new most were a new type of cookie cutter or baking sheet. She was about to grab some of the cookie cutters when someone bumped into her causing her to drop her shopping basket and knocking a few items of the shelf

"Sh*t, sorry I didn't see you there."

"Jake what are you doing here?" Bella asked. "I thought you and your dad were going to Hawaii." "Rebecca's kids caught the flu so the house has been quarantined by my sister."

"What about your tickets?"

"I was able to change the date on them so we now head out on her twenty eighth instead of yesterday," Jake replied. "Dad and I still plan to use them even if the quarantine hasn't been lifted. So how has your holiday been so far?"

"Good, I have been baking with Sue today," Bella replied as she started to pick up the items she knocked off the shelf. "She sent me here to pick up a few things. I'm just waiting to see how much she wanted of the last item before I leave."

Bella's phone vibrated in her had as she moved it around.

"Oh, that is here," Bella replied.

She turned back to the baking center shelves and grabbed the amount Sue told her to get and placed them in her basket. She gave a quick goodbye to Jake and scurried off to the newly installed shelf checkouts. It took her a while to check out since the machine was new to the store and different from the ones Bella was used to in New York.

Bella arrived back at her fathers house just in time to see him pulling out of the drive. He gave her a quick wave before driving off into the distance.

"I got everything and more," Bella said as she set everything down on the only available counter. "What was dad doing home?" Bella asked.

"I can see that and he was home for lunch but got a domestic call out,"

"Those calls always make me nervous," Bella replied. "You never know which way you are going into."

"Oh I know, I prefer the day time ones to the night time ones though," Sue said. "I can at least keep myself busy during the day while at night I am usually trying to sleep."

"I usually ended up binging late night court shows like judge Judy."

"She's on that late?" Sue asked.

"Some times, I once caught her show on at two o'clock in the morning," Bella said. "It might be what inspired me to go to law school."

"Do you know what one you are going to?" Sue asked as she dusted her apron off.

"No but right now I would like to stay in New York to save on potential moving expenses."

"Smart idea but I do know that your father wouldn't mind if you were to move back in here," Sue replied.

Bella started to help Sue clean up and move on to the next pastry. It didn't take long for Bella to figure out the new item was a version of a turn over but smaller. Once Sue was good to go Bella moved on to making the chocolate chip cookies. Bye the time the finished with everything that could be completed that day and cleaned up the work spaces her dad was walking back through the door.

"Just an argument?" Bella asked.

"Yes, over the custody of a dog," Charlie replied. "Oh here this was taped to the door. Do I need to run that through anything?"

"No, It's just something Alice set up," Bella said. "At least I think she had a hand in it."

"You can go to your room now if you want Bella, I'll let you know when dinner is ready."

"Thanks Sue," Bella replied. "And I'm glad you made it home safe dad."

"Me too, I could use a beer,"

"It's in the garage fridge like always," Sue replied. "Baking season has begun so your beer and fish get pushed to the fridge and freezer in the garage."

Bella smiled at her dad and Sue's weird grown adult version of flirting at least that's what she would call it. The pit of doubt in her mind about Sue had slowly disappeared over the whole day as she got to know the woman. Bella walked into her room and closed the door.

She sat down on the bed before opening her nineteenth Gift. It was a five by seven picture that looked like it was cropped out of a larger picture. The picture was of a man in a Santa costume (trying to be sexy) holding a sign that said Marry Christmas Bella. Bella smiled and tucked the picture in next to the white bear she had gotten yesterday. She was only a little disappointed about there being no note this around.


	21. Gift 20

Edward Spent the afternoon of the twentieth with his family picking out a Christmas tree. They had found a company that grew Christmas trees in large pots so they wouldn't be killing a tree in the process like his aunt was complaining about. He had never been more excited to go out and buy a Christmas tree as a family. The farm that was selling the trees were even selling some saplings so you could plant a tree in the forest for someone's gift. Edward thought it would be the perfect gift for Bella to go along with the card he had already gotten her.

"Excuse me, how much are the saplings?" Edward asked the woman behind the table.

Edward knew that the sapling was more of a miniature tree because it looked like someone had just lobbed off the top of a tree and put it in a pot.

"Five dollars, we also provide detailed instructions on how you can plant the seedling in your yard," the woman replied.

"I think it is a little bigger than a seedling but I will take one anyway," Edward replied as he dug a five dollar bill from inside his wallet.

He watched as the woman prepped his purchase making sure it was steady in the small pot it called home before placing it into a bag with the instructions on how to care for and or transplant it and carefully handing it to him.

"Edward we're ready to go," Carlisle called over to his son.

"I'm coming," Edward replied.

Carefully Edward made his way over to the truck he had ridden in and placed his latest gift into the front seat before helping his dad and Jasper get the tree into the truck with the help of a couple of tree lot employees, who then helped secured it with straps before heading home. Alice and his mom had left to get pick up a few last minute gifts.

"Edward when we get home I'd like you and Jasper to grab the tree decorations from the second-floor storage closet."

"Mom already gave me that order," Edward replied.

"Always a step ahead of me," he said as he looked around to see if it was safe for him to back out. "I swear she had our wedding planned down to the minute not even three weeks after we got engaged."

"I thought you guys eloped?" Edward replied.

"We did after my mother took over and changed everything your mother and I had planned for," he replied. "Dad didn't agree with her doing what she did but he couldn't change her mind and neither could I so about a week before the wedding your mother and I made a trip to Vegas and got married in a small white chapel but not the famous one with Elvis."

"Seriously?" Jasper asked

"Yes and after we were finished, we called my dad and told him and he tried to tell my mom but she refused to listen saying that her baby boy wouldn't do that to her but I did," He explained. "My dad filled everyone else in on what happened."

"What happened to the wedding grandma planned?" Edward asked.

"We went through with it but only for your great grandmothers and we paid for half the wedding we no longer needed," Carlisle said.

"Grandma was really that crazy?" Edward asked.

"Yes, she was even worse after we delayed having kids."

"Mom isn't going to be like that with Alice and I be like that with Alice and I when either of us decides to try for kids?" Edward asked.

"She won't because we had a hard time having you and your sister and she thinks putting that kind of pressure on anyone is wrong," He replied. "Why you thinking about kids? You need a partner for that first."

"I have gotten to as far as knowing that I want them, anything beyond that I have no idea," Edward replied. "What about you Jasper?"

"Haven't thought about it," Jasper said. "I guess I am of the mind it happens it happens. I wouldn't want to spend thousands of dollars to have my own child when I could spend just as much and adopt a child that needs a home."

"Very commendable," Edward replied. "Does Alice know how you feel?"

"Somewhat, but she doesn't even want to try until she's twenty-five."

Edward and Jasper climbed out of the truck so they could guide his dad as close to her front steps as they could to make offloading the tree as easy as they possibly could. Once the truck was as close as it could possibly be they took planks of wood and created a ramp to make moving the tree easier. Even with the help of the ramp, they couldn't move the tree too far.

"Okay I thought I was strong but I can't move this tree even a little bit with help," Edward said as he took a break. "I think my New Years resolution is going to be heading to the gym to get my strength up."

"Okay, Edward you want to get your strength up; go and get hand-truck from the garage," His dad said as he caught his breath.

Edward ran off to find the hand truck they hadn't used since they move in. Jasper stayed behind and to get to know his potential father-in-law a little better.

"Why don't you get your nephew and nieces to help?" Jasper asked from where he was resting

"He doesn't because their mother will not let them help in the killing of a perfectly good living tree," Carlisle said. "My nieces are the type of girls that do not like getting dirty in any way shape or form."

"Okay the first the tree is staying in a pot and second your nieces live in Alaska," Jasper replied.

"That is true and my sister does not make them do anything with housework," Carlisle said. "I have a feeling that if Prince Harry wasn't already married she would send her daughters there to capture his heart."

"Fortune hunters," Jasper said.

"That's the polite way to put it," Carlisle replied.

"But you still went this route for them," Jasper said.

"Because even though my sister and her family drive me crazy I still love them," Carlisle explained. "That is why we decided to go this route even though it cost a bit more money."

"I can't see my sister doing that for me," Jasper said. "But we haven't known about each other for too long."

"Give it time, you may never know what will bring you together," Carlisle replied. "Good your back, what took you so long?"

Edward was finally walking up to the truck with the hand-truck in front of him. It took him a few moments to get the hand-truck to place to get the tree into the house.

"By the way, Alice needs to reorganize her fabric collection," Edward said. "Boxes of the crap were all in the way."

Carlisle rolled his eyes as he helped his son and his son's best friend move their Christmas tree on to the hand truck and then into the house. It took a bit of work and moving of furniture but the tree was finally put in place. It was just in time for Alice and Esme to arrive home from their shopping trip. Edward and Jasper went and dug out the Christmas tree decorations while Alice and Esme wrapped whatever gifts that they had bought. Carlisle spent his time making sure the tree was alright and setting up a watering system so the tree did not dry out in the few days left before Christmas.

While his family was working on the big Christmas tree Edward got to work on his latest gift. He wanted to get it finished before it started to get dark which was quite early this time of year. He loaded up the snowmobile his family kept around for snow emergencies and made his way to his meadow and found a spot that the snow hadn't covered completely and cleared the rest of it. It took him several hours to prep the ground for the tree as he set up a device that would keep the ground warm enough for the tree to take root. He would have to come and check on it every day but that was nothing. Once the tree was in the ground and the roots covered with dirt and then mulch he too a greenhouse cage and placed it over the tree to protect it even further from the snow that surrounded it. Feeling a bit cheeky he took a bright red bow and placed it on top of the greenhouse cage.

Once Edward was done planting the tree Edward spent the next few hours digging out a trail to the hiking trail not far from their property. He put up a wooden steak with red bows attached them just like the one on top of the greenhouse cage. Once he was done he walked back to the snowmobile and went home to warm up because the cold was started to get to him.

No one bothered Edward when he arrived home. Their family decorated in stages, his dad did the lights and the garland, his mom did the heirloom ornaments and a few new ones they got every year to replace any that got broken. Alice would then take over and add her ornaments before taking a break and allowing Edward to put his ornaments on the tree. After Edward was done decorating the tree Alice and Esme would come back in and put the tensile on the tree.

Edward was able to change out of his snow-soaked shoes and clothes before Alice dragged him down to the family room to decorate the tree while drinking a substantial amount of hot chocolate. Once his portions of the decorating were done Edward snuck up to his bedroom to work on the card for his latest gift for Bella. He was quite excited because this one could likely let Bella know who he was without actually saying it to her face. He was just about to seal the envelope when Jasper popped in.

"Hey, man can I talk to you for a second?" Jasper asked.

"Sure what's going on?" Edward replied.

"That ring I shouted you and your parents a couple of days ago well it turns out that ring isn't the one I ordered for Alice, in fact, they don't even have a record of my order."

"That was like nine months ago and they just now realized their mistake?" Edward asked.

"Yes and it pisses me off, but I still want to propose so I was wondering if you'd go to the shop with me tomorrow?"

"I wouldn't be the best choice," Edward said. "I have no idea what kind of ring she would like but I think Bella would."

"So I should ask Bella to go with me?"

"Yes. In fact, you can take this over to her dad's house now and tell her you found it taped to the door and then ask her for her help."

"Why haven't you told her yet?" Jasper asked as he took the envelope from Edward.

"Because I like giving her things even if she doesn't like the small amount of money I spend on them," Edward replied.

"Small amount? Edward the mixer you got her cost you over a hundred dollars, to someone like Bella that is not a small amount," Jasper replied.

"I know and I have not gotten her anything that expensive since then," So will you do it?"

"Sure, I have to get a charging cord for my phone anyway,"

"Thank you," Edward called after Jasper as he left with the envelope in hand.

 **Bella** was shoveling her dad's driveway and sidewalk from the snow that had fallen earlier that morning. Her broken arm made it a bit difficult but she got a small portion of the driveway done before Seth came out of the house and took the shovel away from her.

"I saw you slip nearly five times already," Seth said. "I don't think you want two broken arms for Christmas do you?"

"No, but you were asleep and I wanted the snow gone before Dad got home."

"And I'm now awake, I will finish it," Seth replied.

Bella's shoulders slumped as she made her way inside with Seth watching hr until the front door had closed behind her. She was settling down in a lay-z-boy chair with a book and a cup of hot chocolate when Seth walked inside.

"Now I know you couldn't have finished the driveway that quick," Bella replied. "It has barely been two minutes."

"Someone is here to talk to you," Seth said.

Bella set her cup and book down and got up to see who needed to talk with her. She really hoped that it wasn't Jake, he was becoming annoying again. She was quite pleasantly surprised to see Jasper standing on her dad's porch.

"Jasper, what are you doing here?" Bella said. "And come in already or you'll freeze to death."

"I needed your help picking out Alice's gift. I had a version of it until a week ago when the store said they gave me the wrong ring and the one I ordered was no longer an option or something like that."

"And you want me to do what?"

"You know what ring she wants," Jasper said.

"And that means what?" Bella asked.

"It means that I want you to go with me to the jewelry store tomorrow to help me pick one out, one that really fits her since Tiffany's didn't work out."

"Fine but it has to be before the Policemen's Annual Christmas Party for Children. I'm helping Sue set up and hand out cookies."

"That is perfect," Jasper replied. "Would noon be okay?"

"Yes," Bella replied.

"Oh this is for you I stepped on it coming in, I'm surprised I didn't get covered in snow."

Bella took the white envelope from Jasper. There were a few spots that got hit with snow as the ink used to write her name was bleeding into the white of the envelope.

"Thanks," Bella said. "See you tomorrow."


	22. Gift 21

Jasper had arrived at twelve o'clock on the dot to go shopping for Alice. Bella assumed it was a ring to propose with since he had mentioned a ring yesterday when he came by. She also had to keep it a secret from Alice; which was one of the hardest things Bella ever had to do since Alice was so persistent. Even Jasper had to mute his phone because Alice was trying to get him to spill what he was getting for her.

"Alice again?" Bella asked as they neared the shops they had chosen to go to by the reviews they got on line.

"Yes, you wouldn't mind hiding the ring at your place would you?" Jasper replied. "I wouldn't want her to find it even by accident."

"Sure, I will even have my dad put it in the safe," Bella replied. "You might want to get a decoy gift that you wouldn't really care if she found it or not preferably not a ring."

"Oh I already have one," Jasper replied. "She thinks that it is a gift for her mom."

"You at least have to take a bag with paper stuffed inside of it with you when you go back."

"I know," Jasper replied. "Now let's go find Alice a ring."

The duo climbed out of the car the Cullen's had let I'm barrow. The store was small and near an ice cream shop (that shockingly was still open this time of year). Bella thought about making Jasper go through the drive thru for a blizzard but she figured she would wait and see how their shopping trip went. Once inside they went straight for the jewelry cases and began looking at what they had.

"Hello Welcome to Carter's Fine Jewelry and are how may we help you today?" a slender gray haired woman asked.

"I'm shopping for an engagement ring," Jasper replied. "I tried getting one from Tiffany's but that was a crap shoot."

"And you brought your fiancée along to choose, how sweet."

"Oh, I am not his fiancée, I'm her best friend and here to make sure he doesn't get something she would hate."

"Smart idea, now what type of ring were you looking for?"

"A ring in the three to two thousand dollar range," Jasper replied. "I'd like diamonds to be a part of it but I'd like a purple stone in the center, its her favorite color."

"We have very few rings with a center stone that is purple but I'm sure we can find something to suit your taste."

The sales lady led them further down the display case and pulled out a several different rings that fit Jasper's request. The first couple Bella knew Alice wouldn't like be cause they were a gaudy gold color that Alice wouldn't be caught dead wearing unless it was for Halloween.

"You can nix the gold ones, she doesn't like any gold except for white or rose gold which I can see that you don't have the rose gold."

"Okay is there a particular metal that you would prefer to use?"

"She likes white gold and platinum," Bella said

The sales lady took four rings and put them back into the case leavening four rings still on the top of the glass. Jasper took a closer look at each one and eliminated another as the close of the center stone looked too blue.

"Jasper do you remember those flowers that you gave Alice on your first date?" Bella asked.

"Honestly I was so nervous I don't even remember what I said to Alice," Jasper replied.

"Well Alice does and the middle ring kind of looks like them except the center is purple," Bella said as she pointed to the ring in question. "That has to be he ring for Alice, the other two just look like pale imitations of the ring Prince William gave to Kate Middleton."

"I thought that Alice liked that ring?"

"She does but she would prefer to have a ring that is more unique. She doesn't want people to see her ring and think that she just copied the royal family."

"Are you sure she would love the center ring if that is what I gave her?"

"Yes," Bella replied as she looked something up on her phone. "Here this is a picture of the flowers you gave her on your first date, The ring looks just like that but it is purple instead of brown."

"So what do you say?" the sales lady asked. "This ring is one of a kind. No one else would have it."

"I'll take it," Jasper said. "You wouldn't have wedding bands that go with that style of ring do you?"

"Not at the moment,"

"Jasper just get the ring. Alice can help you pick out wedding bands."

"Your friend is quite right. Wedding bands should be chosen by he bride and groom not just one or the other," The sales lady said. "But we also do some custom work and if we are given enough time and your potential bride wants a matching band we can design one for her."

"Can I take this ring today?" Jasper asked as he reached for his wallet.

"Of course you can. Would you like me to wrap it up for you?"

"Yes please."

Bella and Jasper only had to wait a few minutes for the ring to be wrapped up. Jasper walked over to the register to check out and bella continued to look around and found an assortment of pocket watches each one intricately carved. There was one that jumped out at her as it looked like a police badge was carved into the front. The pocket watch looked like the badge her dad wore everyday but with out the number and the police department he worked for.

"Detailed work," A sales man said.

"Yes, it looks like the badge my dad wears everyday," Bella replied.

"Then you should have it," The man said. "The watch is only forty dollars,"

"That's it? The watch looks like it should cost more."

"It's only stainless steal."

"I'll take it," Bella said.

The sales men that helped Bella quickly packed up the pocket watch in wooden box that was stained and highly polished and took it over to the register where Jasper was waiting for her. Ten minutes and an ice cream cone later they were on their way home.

"Bella you have two cards waiting on your desk. I found one of them on the side table," Sue said. "The cookies are all packed up and I'm working on the pastries now."

"Give me a moment and I will help you," Bella replied. "How many do you expect for the party?"

"More than we expected, hence why I was in the kitchen until seven this morning baking up a storm," Sue explained. "Your dad had to take his coffee black this morning because I even used the Splenda."

"Oh the horror," Bella said. "You could have asked me to help."

"Oh honey after that hike you took yesterday you were dead to the world the moment your head hit the pillow."

Bella smiled and headed for her room to see what the cards held for her. The first one was just your basic Christmas card from Jake and his dad Billy, they had both signed the card. The second card was from her Secret Santa again it was a basic Christmas card but with a heart felt message written inside. The only thing out of the ordinary with the second card was the green and silver thread friendship bracelet taped to the inside.

The bracelet reminded her of the one Alice gave her their first day of senior year, Bella had lost it in an accident a few days after the first major snow storm of that year. Bella slipped the bracelet onto her wrist and made sure it couldn't slip off in an accident this time. She took both cards and set them up next to the bear she had gotten her first night back in forks before heading back into the kitchen to help Sue pack up all the goodies for the party. It didn't take the two women long to pack everything up in several large white boxes and clearly label each one with what was inside. Because of her arm Bella was only able to carry a single box at a time while Sue could do more.

Sue pushed the trunk closed with a sigh.

"You do this every year alone?" Bella asked.

"Yes," Sue replied. "But seeing the single moment of joy on a child's face makes it all worth it. Now lets go do this all again at the community center."

Bella was quite happy to see someone waiting at the community center with a hand truck making the transfer of baked goods into the building faster and easier. Once everything was inside it took no time at all to get all the tables loaded up.

"Bella how nice to see you here," Esme Cullen said.

"I'm helping my step-mom out for the night. What are you doing here?" Bella asked.

"Oh I am here to deliver the Santa suit," Esme replied holding up a black garment bag. "I finally talked Carlisle into being Santa for the kids but that is probably because his sister is still staying with us."

"Alice told me they were still visiting when I called her last night,"

"You should come over for our movie night tonight," Esme said. "It's been awhile since we've seen you and I know you will give Alice a break from her cousins."

"I'll think about it," Bella replied.

"That is all I could ask. Have a good night," Esme said before walking away.


	23. Gift 22

Bella woke up on the twenty second quite late. The Christmas party for kids ran a little late since they had a lot more families show up than they had originally planned on. There was a little scrambling but they were able to make sure that each and every kid got a gift and at least one cookie. Bella did end up at the Cullen house after the children's party because Alice had dragged her there for movie night. The first part of the night was great but then once of Alice's cousins (Bella couldn't remember the girls name) started ripping into Bella for what she was wearing and asking deeply personal questions that Bella did not want to answer but she wouldn't take no for an answer.

Sue had gone out to the reservation to take care of some tribal business before going out with a group of friends for some drinks before they were all taken over by family for the next couple of days. Her dad was working and wouldn't be home until late since it was a double shift. She hadn't seen much of Seth since he spent most of his time at his friend Collin's house playing call of duty or some other game that boys become obsessed with at his age. This left Bella all alone at least she thought she was alone until she heard something crash to the floor in the kitchen.

Bella jumped out of her bed the moment she heard it and grabbed the baseball bat from her one day on a softball team eleven years ago. She held it out in front of her ready to hit anything that jumped out at her. She looked into the kitchen from around the corner.

"Leah?" Bella asked dropping the bat a little lower. "What are you doing here? I thought you were spending the holiday with your boyfriend?"

"Who are you and how do you know who I am?" Leah asked.

"Bella and my dad lives here," she replied. "Now, why are you here?"

"My boyfriend dumped me," Leah said before taking a long swig from the bottle fo bourbon in her hand. "For his ex girlfriend in front of his family who all thought that he was going to propose, which he did do by the way but it wasn't to me."

"Okay now I see why you are drinking at this time of day," Bella said. "But maybe you should stop. He clearly wasn't worth your time and you two still live together right,"

"I still have a key to the apartment. After what happened I didn't feel like going back and getting my stuff."

"I wouldn't blame you," Bella said. "But why don't we get your stuff. I have a friend that has a truck that can help you get it all out at once."

"Most of the furniture was his," Leah replied.

"Then let's go get what is yours," Bella said. "Is there anything in the apartment that he uses all the time but doesn't own?"

"My computer, it's a desktop, his laptop broke a couple of months ago and he's refused to get his own because he's waiting for the new Mac book to come out or something and he claimed my desktop pc as his own."

"Then I think I know how we can get back at him. Let me call my friends and we will make a trip to get your stuff," Bella replied.

Leah smiled and replied okay before turning her attention to the fridge to get something to eat while Bella called her friends. Twenty minutes later Alice, Jasper, Edward and Jake were waiting to head to Leah's now former apartment. Bella, Leah and Alice rode in Alice's car while the boys rode behind them in the truck that belong to the Cullen family.

Leah's former apartment was a small studio apartment with IKEA bookshelves used as room dividers. Leah quickly told everyone what shelves held her stuff before going to pack up the privet items from her bedroom area and the bathroom. Bella had been packing up Leah's computer area while Edward took care of her computer dragging all of the documents that belonged to her ex on to flash drives. He was halfway through the guy files when he stopped and pushed Bella away from the computer and grabbed a few more flash drives from his bag and continued his work.

"Is everything okay?" Bella asked.

"Yes, it's just some of the stuff this guy is into would make someone's stomach turn."

"He's not into kids or anything is he because if he is we need to call the cops before you mess with that computer any more."

"God, know if I discovered something like that I would have run to the bathroom and preceded to bring my breakfast and lunch back up," Edward replied. "I'm just making it a little harder for him to come after Leah."

"Is he the type to do that?"

"Yes," Edward replied simply. "You should finish packing up the books and paperwork."

"Oh the books are done but the paperwork is a little harder because it's all mixed together," Bella replied. "Hold on I think I found something."

Bella remained quiet for a few minutes as she looked at the paper work that turned out to be the lease for Leah's apartment and her boyfriends name was not on written on it any where.

"Leah you don't have to leave this place if you don't want to," Bella said.

"Are you sure because the last time I saw a lease my name wasn't on it."

"Well this one shows your name on it and your signature is the only one at the bottom," Bella replied handing over the paperwork.

"He must have showed her a faked lease with only his name on it," Alice said. "I love this place and it's close to school so I don't have to walk very far."

"Then we should change the locks and send a certified letter with a date that dear Mathew can come and pick up his things," Jasper said. "One of the frat guys in my chemistry class last year had it done to him by an ex and he was the one paying for everything."

"Well packing up my stuff will allow Mathew to get his stuff out quicker," Leah said.

"I'll run to the hardware store and get a new deadbolt for you?" Edward replied.

"I'll go with you," Jasper said before turning toward Leah "You don't have to let your super know do you?"

"No I just have to give him a key for any locks that I place on the door. So that he may enter to do any repairs."

"Okay then, you, Alice and Bella get to work on that letter and packing anything else you don't want Mathew to have access to and Jasper and I will go get that deadbolt for you."

Bella and Leah quickly put a notice of eviction (for lack of a better word) letter together and had it ready to send off to Mathew at his parents house. Once they were done with the letter Leah went through her paperwork and discovered that she had paid for the two bookshelves used to give her bedroom some privacy and the mattress but not the bed frame.

"That will through a wrench into his plans. I own everything in the kitchen, mom gave it to me as a house warming gift and the mattress is mine."

"A few other items too," Bella said. "We could push your stuff into the bedroom area and have Mathews stuff shoved into the living room area."

"Oh that is a good idea," Leah said.

Bella and Leah ordered a pizza while Edward was gone and it was delivered just before he came back. He was ranting about everyone buying a deadbolt or something like that but he found one that came with four keys, two for the door handle and two for the actual dead bolt. He replaced it after they ate the pizza. Bella enjoyed getting to know her new stepsister a little better. She even learned a couple of new things about Edward that she hadn't known before.

"Okay, I'm done, I better get this lock installed before we head back to Forks," Edward said. "I'm sure your parents would like to see you some time today."

"My mom wont get back home until after eleven at night at least if she really is going out with the girls," Leah said. "But that s only because she is the designated driver, if she isn't she'll be dropped off a little earlier."

"Our mom is the same way," Alice said.

"She is right," Edward said. "But mom hardly drinks anyway but Jasper we should go get that lock if we want to make it home on time."

And with that Jasper and Edward were out the door and the girls were left all alone.

Leah locked the door behind the two men and took a seat on the couch as Bella took a seat at the computer so they could work on the letter. Alice sat on the floor since there was no space available on the couch. Once they had completed the letter Alice ordered a pizza that was delivered just before Edward don Jasper arrive back front the hardware store.

They ate the pizza and got to know each other a little more. Once the Pizza was all gone Edward grabbed the bag from the hardware store and went to work putting the new knob and lock on to the door. He tried both locks several times to make sure they worked before running the secondary key's to Leah's super. After he got back Alice, Bella and Leah roped him and Jasper into moving Leah's stuff into the bed room area and Matthew's stuff into the living room area. The group quickly climbed into the truck after everything was moved so they could get home before it was too late. Edward dropped Leah and Bella off at her dad's place and waiting until they were both inside before heading home himself.

Bella watched as Edward drove away until she could no longer see the truck he was driving. Leah had headed on inside. Bella quickly followed after the truck turned the corner. Bella roped Leah into watching one of the original Christmas movie from Netflix while eating a bowl of pop corn. Leah had passed out three quarters of the way through the movie just before Leah's mom arrived home early.

"I thought tonight was your night for drinks with the girls?" Bella asked.

Sue took her time taking all of her winter wear off before turning her attention to Bella.

"Leann's daughter went into labor so Cathrine took her to the hospital to be there with her," Sue said. "I don't really get along with the other women so I decided to come home and make dinner."

"Oh," Bella said. "You should make it for four."

"I always make extra so if I don't feel like making a fresh lunch for your father I have leftovers to send with him."

"I guess that works."

"It does but why do you think I need to make enough for four because I know Seth is getting pizza and wings with his friends."

Bella just stood up and pointed to the other end of the couch where Leah slept on curled up in a ball. Sue couldn't see who Bella was pointing to from where she stood so she walked closer. Upon recognizing her daughter Sue's face lit up with joy. Bella was surprised Sue was able to keep quiet as she dragged Bella to the kitchen to question her without waking her daughter.

"What is she doing here?" Sue asked.

"Mathew dumped her for his ex," Bella said. "Apparently his family thought that he was going to propose to Leah but he proposed to the ex instead."

"Oh my poor baby, how has she been doing?"

"Fine for now, she gets to keep the apartment as its only her name on the lease."

"Thank you for being there for her,"

"It was easy," Bella said.

"I better get started on dinner," Sue said with a bit of excitement.

"I could help you if you'd like," Bella replied.

"Oh I like working alone but I'll holler for you if I need you to do anything," Sue said. "Go finish your movie."

Sue did call Bella in to put a covered dish into the oven while she continued to work on something else before sending Bella off again. Bella finished the movie and quickly cleaned up the pop corn before going to her room. She was sitting on her bed when she heard a faint meow almost like it hadn't really happened. Bella put the book she was going to read aside and put on her boots gloves, coat and hat before heading out the front door to find the source of the noise.

She checked the bushes around the front porch and found nothing. She checked the bushes under her bedroom window and on a bare spot of ground underneath the bush lay a solid white kitten clearly too young to be away from it's mother let alone moving around in the snow. Carefully Bella reached underneath the bush and pulled the kitten out to her. She quickly wrapped the kitten in her scarf that was stuffed into a pocket and rushed back inside.

Leah was now awake and helping her mother in the kitchen. Bella had startled them both by the commotion.

"Sorry," Bella said. "I had to get them inside, I have no idea how long they were out there."

"Had to get who inside?" Sue asked as she continued to mix something up in a bowl.

Very carefully Bella moved her scarf to reveal the kitten she had brought in from outside.

"I heard them meowing from my bedroom," Bella said. "Poor thing looks like it was about to freeze to death."

"Did you see it's mother at all?" Sue asked. "Because they are clearly too young to be away from it's mother."

"I didn't see a single sing of another cat in the area. I'm going to put this little guy into a warm box and then see if any of the neighbors are missing a cat."

"Take a picture of him with your phone and I'll take care of him while you look." Leah said. "What? I volunteered at that cat rescue last summer."

Once Bella made sure the kitten was safe she spent the next two hours going from door to door seeing if anyone lost a kitten or maybe a cat that had been pregnant but no one had. Feeling defeated Bella headed home for dinner. Her dad's patrol car was parked out front when she walked up to the house.

She walked inside and quickly pulled off her winter wear before checking in on the kitten but found him missing from the box she had set up in the mud room.

"Sue," Bella called. "Did you see where the kitten went?"

"He's snuggled up with your father in his chair," Sue replied. "Leah was feeding them when your dad came home and sat down. Once she was done the little guy just climbed up onto him and refused to leave."

Bella turned around to look at her father in his chair watching sports center. She spotted the kitten curled up in the crook of his arm.

"Leah's been keeping a close eye and you had a delivery while you were out."

Bella looked to where Sue had pointed and saw a bright red basket filled with DVD's and candy. There was a white envelope tacked to the basket with a piece of green tape. She pulled the envelope off and opened it. Inside was another card explaining the gift.

Bella,

This basket did not cost me a thing. I won it in a raffle held to raise money for some charity who's name I have already forgotten. It was not the item I was going for but it was the one that I got and thought you would enjoy some of these movies anyway if not take this basket and pay it forward and give it to someone you think might enjoy it.

Your Secret Santa

Bella tucked the card back into the envelope before taking a closer look at the basket. She saw a few movies she loved and a few that she hated. It was the same for the candy that was also placed in the basket. She took the basket and the card and put them away.

"Alright everyone dinner is ready," Sue called from the kitchen.

Bella quickly picked the kitten up from her dad's arm and placed the kitten back into the box before she joined everyone else for dinner.


	24. Gift 23

**Dear Readers,**

 **Sorry that this post took so long. I got stuck on where I wanted to take this story and by the time I figured out where I wanted to take Edward and Bella on this journey I loss my Uncle quite suddenly and took time away from writing to mourn his loss. I hope this chapter is a good one for you.**

 **Sincerely,**

 **MJM**

 **update: I hope I fixed the repeating that the chapter did. If I didn't catch them all please let me know.**

"Okay time for you to get ready," Alice said as she burst into Bella's room.

"Get ready for what?" Bella asked.

"For dinner with my family," Alice said. "I have already made sure that your dad and step-mom don't have something else planned for the evening."

"Why do I have to attend a family dinner with your family?" Bella asked. "I am just your friend."

"Because you are like my sister and my mom would like to have someone she wouldn't mind talking to besides her husband and children," Alice said. "My cousins and aunt don't count because they have nothing in common. Please, you will keep us sane."

"Can I bring Snowball with me?" Bella asked. "He is not old enough to be left alone too long."

"Who the heck is Snowball?" Alice asked.

"Sorry, I can't believe I haven't told you about him yet," Bella said dragging Alice over to the end of her bed.

At the end of Bella's bed was an old trunk with a small cardboard box sitting open on top of it. Bella reached into the box and gently picked up a small white ball of fluff. Bella held Snowball close to her chest as she turned to show him to Alice.

"This is Snowball."

"Oh my gosh he's so cute," Alice said. "Did your Secret Santa send him to you?"

"No, I found him outside under the bush that's under my window. I spent hours looking around the whole neighborhood for any sign of his mom or a family that was looking for him and got nothing for my efforts."

"Poor little guy, Is he doing okay now?" Alice replied.

"For now he so young that he needs to be fed about every three hours."

"I don't think mom would mind. She and Dad have been looking into getting a new cat but after Link died they have not felt that connection with any of them that they saw."

"Link was a good cat. I miss him too. He always liked to steal our pencils when we were doing our homework."

"He did and mom never figured out where he learned that from. Link only started to do it during our senior year. Do you have everything for yourself and Snowball or do you need a few more minutes."

"I keep everything for Snowball together in a bag," Bella said. "What is the dress code or this dinner?"

"Dressy casual as mom likes to say. So put on a nice top and those jeans I sent you from France a couple of weeks ago." Alice replied. "I'm going to hit the bathroom while you change."

Bella nodded and dug out the pair of jeans that Alice had sent her from her suitcase and a shirt her mother sent from one of her many trips to Mexico and put them on along with a nice green cardigan to keep her warn. Once she was ready to go she made sure that all of Snowball's stuff was in the bag and found a smaller box for him to travel over to the Cullen house safely. After a second thought, she found a plain T-shirt to wear while feeding Snowball so she didn't get dirty as he has gotten sick a few times now.

"I called mom to make sure it was okay to bring Snowball and she said to bring him right on over."

"Probably should have done that before I even got his things together," Bella replied. "And we are ready to go."

"Great," Alice said as she took SNowball's bag from Bella.

The bag was heavier than Alice had anticipated. Bella kept her hold on Snowball even in the car. Alice put the bag in the backseat and hopped into the driver's seat. Bella was careful not to lose snowball and set him down in between the two front seats so she could climb in. She closed the door and buckled herself in before picking snowball back up. Alice looked at her and shook her head before starting the car.

"You know I think my mom might have one of Link's old carriers put up somewhere. I can see if she'd be willing to let you use it. It would be safer for snowball that way," Alice said.

"I know. I tried getting one last night but they only had the pet taxis for larger animals and it didn't seem right to get one that big for a cat that won't get much bigger and that was at Newton's there is no way in heck I was going to trek all the way over to Walmart to get one."

"Don't blame you there. That store is only slightly less crazier than Black Friday."

Bella and Alice spent the whole car ride over to the Cullen house talking about the crazy stuff they had seen go down at Walmart. They both agreed that nothing has yet to top the time Mike Newton got drunk after graduation and tired to go streaking through Walmart with his friends cheering him on. He had been arrested later on that night even though he wore a ski mask. His tattoo of his jersey number helped identify him.

They were almost to the Cullen driveway when they hit some black ice that sent the car spinning. Alice did what she could to get the car to a stop. Each girl let out the breath they had been holding when the car finally stopped a few feet away from the Cullen driveway entrance.

"That was crazy," Alice said. "I'll have to let everyone know about it. They could get hurt otherwise."

"Are you okay?" Bella asked.

"I'm good, how about you?" Alice said. "And how is Snowball?"

"He is sleeping like a rock," Bella replied.

Once she had calmed down enough Alice made her way down the Cullen driveway. She pulled into the garage and turned off the car.

"We warn them about the black ice but we don't tell them it sent us spinning," Alice said. "We are fine and no one got hurt."

"I won't say anything about it but if I am outright asked about it I won't lie."

"Good," Alice said as she unlocked the doors and climbed out.

Alice grabbed the bag of Snowball's stuff from the back seat and locked the car back up after seeing that Bella was waiting for her. They walked up to the side porch where Esme sat wrapped up in a golden blanket drinking a cup of coffee. Bella was careful not to slip on any hidden patches of ice as she still had Snowball to worry about. He was sleeping peacefully in his box and Bella didn't want to ruin that.

"Are you staying the night?" Esme asked as Bella and Alice reached the porch.

"I'm not planning to. The box is Snowball and the bag Alice has is all of his stuff because he is so young."

Esme drained the last of the coffee from her cup and stood up to open the door for Bella. Snowball let out the littlest meow as they entered the house causing Esme to look down into the box at the snow white kitten as he crawled around the box.

"I thought you were bringing an older kitten. This little guy should still be with his mother." Esme said.

"I agree and the vet I took him too said it was likely that his mother got hurt and he was left all alone," Bella said. "The vet also said he might not make it. He's doing okay now but because he is so young he could always take a turn for the worse."

"I hope that doesn't happen. He is so cute," Esme said.

"I know, that is why I chose to keep him," Bella replied. "Is it alright if I set up in your room Alice?"

"Of course," Alice replied. "I will put the formula in the fridge."

"Bella you know that you can stay in the guest room next to Alice's bedroom."

"No she can't, that is the room Irina and her fiancée are staying in once they arrive," said a woman that Bella would assume to be an Italian version of Professor Trelawney from Harry Potter minus the glasses that made her eyes look huge bug eyes.

"Shasta this is my house," Esme said. "Bella will be staying in the guest room next to Alice's room if she chooses to do so."

"My name is Sasha and we will have to see what my brother says about this," Sasha said before stomping away down the hall to her room.

Bella felt a little awkward standing there as the two women argued. She never liked people arguing loudly. It was something that started when her parents first started to separate and it never went away. She could not believe that the woman Esme was arguing with was Carlisle's sister. They looked nothing alike and Bella expected that Sasha had been adopted.

"Now you have met the infamous Sasha," Alice said. "I'll set you up in my room, Jasper is staying in the guest room next to Edward to be respectful of my parents no significant others in the bedroom rule."

"And I assume your cousin's refuse to obey that rule?"

"You would be correct," Esme said having finally sent Sasha on her way. "And you really don't have to stay with Alice."

"I'll save you some hassle and set up this little guy in Alice's room," Bella said. "Besides if I do stay over we can have a movie night or spa night as I'm sure Alice would like to do."

"Okay, let me know if you need anything. I'm sure we have some of Link's old things that you could use."

"Thank you but you don't have to," Bella said. "You have enough going on."

Alice dragged Bella to her room and helped Bella set up Snowball in between the two overstuffed chairs that sat in front of her bay window before heading downstairs to help Esme with dinner since no one else had.

"Where are Jasper and Edward?" Bella asked as she peeled potatoes.

"Shoveling driveways of the elderly whose children weren't able to make it into town," Alice said. "They asked V to go with them but he refused saying he sprained his wrist."

"I shoveled my dad's sidewalk last night and my arm is broken," Bella replied.

"We know dear," Esme said. "How does your arm feel? You've been doing quite a lot."

"Fine for now. Yeah, it aches every now and then but it's a broken bone and that is bound to happen." Bella said. "I'm not the type to let a small injury to dictate my life."

"Good thing you aren't my cousin."

"Speaking of cousins where are they?" Bella asked.

"Tanya left for the airport to pick up her sisters and their significant others and V is in the basement playing some pseudo military wanna-be game but it wasn't Call of Duty."

"So it is only me, you, your mom, your aunt and your cousin V home right now?"

"Yep," Alice said. "And dad should be home from work any moment."

And Alice was right as her dad was walking in the front door ten minutes later with a familiar blue cake box talking with Jasper and Edward as they dusted the snow off their boots by the front door. Edward headed up to his room while Jasper rushed over to greet Alice.

"Okay keep your hands away they are colder than the ice in the Arctic," Alice said.

"I can't help it. I wore gloves," Jasper replied. "So how has your night been?"

"It has been alright. It got better once Bella agreed to come to dinner," Alice said. "Speaking of dinner Bella isn't it time for another feeding."

"After I get the potatoes in the oven for your mom I will take care of Snowball."

"Snowball?" Jasper asked.

"Snowball is a kitten I found underneath my bedroom window?"

"It wasn't one of those gifts from your secret Santa was it?" Jasper asked.

"No, my gift for today was one of those Giant novelty cards with Santa and Mrs. Claus singing twelve days of Christmas."

"Go take care of Snowball dear, I can get the potatoes," Esme said from over by the stove.

Bella quickly finished what she was doing with the potatoes and took her apron off. She grabbed a bottle of his formula from the fridge and heated it up before going upstairs to take care of the tiny little kitten. Snowball was awake and crying for food when she reached his box. She made sure his formula was good to go before picking the little guy up and feeding him. It took him several minutes to finish his bottle. After making sure he was okay after his feeding Bella headed back downstairs.

"Dinner is done already?" Bella asked as she walked into the kitchen.

"Oh you've been up there just over fifteen minutes dear," Esme said. "But you are here just in time to help Edward set the table while I put everything into serving dishes."

Bella quietly helps Edward set the table as his aunt sits at the end of the table with her latest husband drinking a glass of red wine. Bella grew quite uncomfortable with the way Sasha narrowed her eyes at her.

The door rang as Bella started to put the last setting on the table and Edward left to grab the drinking glasses. He was back in no time. The doorbell rang again.

"Carlisle could you get the door please," Esme called from the kitchen.

Bella thought she heard Carlisle mumble yes dear as he made his way to the front door. He opened the door and three women walked into the home with two men following behind them.

"Who are they?" Bella quietly asked Edward.

"The first one is Tanya. The second one is Irina with her Dominican fiancé Laurent and last but not least we have Kate and her husband Garret," Edward replied. "This is the first time that I have met either Laurent or Garret."

"Yes, my daughter shamefully eloped in Vegas."

"Well good for her as long as that is what she wanted," Bella replied.

"She should have had a family wedding," Sasha said. "It is a daughter's greatest duty next to taking care of their parents when the time comes."

"I wholeheartedly disagree with you. Are we done with the table because I'd really like to help your mother since only Alice is helping her," Bella said. "Oh and you should probably drag your cousin up from the basement, I haven't seen hide more hair of him since I have arrived."

"Kate where the hell are my bags?" Bella heard Irina screech as she went back into the kitchen.

"Like I told you at the airport, Irina, Garret and I are not your personal bellhops," Kate replied. "You will have to carry your own bags. Now if you don't mind I am going to drop my bags off in my room for the time being."

Bella quickly helped Esme put the rest of the food onto serving dishes and carried them out to the table. Sasha was now drinking a glass of white wine. Esme didn't look happy about it but continued to set the food on the table quietly.

"Bella, could you be a dear and get the place cards from the drawer by the toaster?" Esme asked. "I put them there to keep them from getting messed up."

"Yes ma'am," Bella replied.

"I've told you to call me Esme,"

Bella got the cards that Esme asked her to get and placed them on top of the plates that Esme told her to put them on. In the end, it left Carlisle's sister as far away from Carlisle and Esme as she possibly could be. Bella was seated between Edward and his cousin Tanya. Alice was next to her mom and Jasper. Once the cards were in place Esme called everyone to dinner. She took her seat next to Carlisle in what Bella liked to call the captain's chair.

It wasn't until dinner was almost done that Bella felt like taking a fork and stabbing it into Tanya's hand. But like the good cop's daughter, she was she restrained herself and went back to talking to Edward.

"Excuse me, are you going to answer my question or not?"

"Well, I have nothing nice to say so I chose not to respond," Bella replied. "I apologize Esme but I seem to have lost my appetite would it be alright if I go and check on Snowball?"

"Of course dear just clean your plate off and place it in the sink, I'll wash them later."

"Who is Snowball?" Tanya asked. "Is that some weird name you gave your baby?"

"If by baby you mean fur-baby then yes I did but giving a cat a name like Snowball is quite acceptable," Bella replied as she pushed herself away from the table.

"She can't have that cat here in this house. I am highly allergic," Tanya replied.

"You are not allergic to cats," Esme said. "I see you taking pictures all the time with them on Instagram."

"They were hypoallergenic," Tanya snapped.

"Well our cat Link was not hypoallergenic and you spent quite a bit of the time you spent here cuddled up with him," Esme replied. "Bella please go make sure your cat is doing okay. He is welcome here for as long as you are."

Bella said a quick thank you before cleaning off her plate and putting it into the dishwasher for Esme. Once that was done she dashed upstairs to see how Snowball was doing. She found him awake and crawling around in the box letting out quite meows every now and then but he was doing alright.


	25. Gift 24

Bella was awakened by a pillow to the face.

"Seriously Alice you couldn't wake me up like a normal person?" Bella asked.

"Who ever said I was normal?" Alice replied. "Now hurry up we still have to get to the store for mom."

"That list is like eight pages long."

"That is only because she wants to keep us out of the house while she wraps last minute gifts," Alice replied. "She has Edward and Jasper hanging more lights up outside and Dad is going to be in and out all day because the hospital is understaffed but after nine o'clock tonight he is off unless there is a major accident that needs absolutely everyone available to work."

"Oh that's nice of him," Bella replied. "But from what I've seen it is because of his sister and her family."

"It probably is but he won't admit it," Alice said. "Now feed Snowball and get dressed so we can go."

Bella climbed out of the pallet of blankets that Alice put together for her and looked in on Snowball. He was sleeping peacefully curled up in a ball. In fact he was in such a deep sleep that if it wasn't for the slight movement of his belly she would have thought the worst. She trudged her way down stairs and found that the rest of Snowball's formula was gone and she had enough for at least three more feedings. Bella closed the door and went back up to Alice's room where she quickly got dressed and texted Leah to double check the recipe ingredients for Snowball's formula.

"Ready to go?" Alice asked.

"Yes."

The two girls walked out of the house just as Esme was arriving home.

"Home already?" Alice asked.

"Yes, a surprising amount of people showed up to spend a bit of time with their families. I however have to go and start prepping my Christmas Casseroles," Esme replied. "Oh, Bella do thank your step-mother for the list of those in need this year."

"I will," Bella said. "Once I see here again."

"Yes, I heard she was filling in for one of the nurses that called in."

"She is but it helps her out as her kids both got a late invitation to spend the holiday with their cousins on the reservation."

"I would love to chat but I have to get started or the whole day will be thrown off," Esme said.

"We'll be back soon with the rest of the stuff," Alice said dragging Bella over to the garage. "Okay checklist before we climb in and leave something behind by accident. Cash?"

Bella held up a white envelope Esme had given them the night before.

"Check," Bella replied.

"List of supplies needed?" Alice asked.

Again Bella held it up.

"Okay, check I have the keys is there anything else we need?" Alice asked. "Oh wait credit card just in case there isn't enough cash."

"It's in the envelope with the cash," Bella replied. "Can we go now?"

"Of course," Alice replied as she hopped into the drivers seat. "Don't touch that dial. Only the driver can pick the music."

"I was reaching to adjust the heat," Bella replied. "I have known you for most of my life now I know not to mess with your music. Oddly that's one of the few things I know you have in common with Edward."

"He is worse about it than me," ALice replied buckling herself in. "Once we get to the store we both will need carts."

"Yeah the list is massive," Bella said. "I have to get everything for Snowball's formula because it was all gone when I went to get it twenty minutes ago."

"That's odd, will the store have everything you need?" ALice asked.

"Yes, it'll be expensive but their website says that everything is available in store."

"Let's hope the website wasn't lying," Alice said as she pulled out of the garage.

The drive to the store was a little treacherous as there were several patches of black ice along the route. Alice parked at the back of the lot as the spaces closet to the store were filled up already. Bella quickly grabbed two carts from the nearby cart carousel. Alice took the cart from bella along with the list and trudged headlong into the only grocery store in forks open on Christmas Eve morning. She made the loop around the store like Esme did as it allowed them to get everything as quickly and efficiently as possible. Bella was able to find everything for Snowball's formula as well as a few stuffed toys for him.

"Okay let's double check and make sure we have everything," Alice said pausing near the small selection of books the store offered.

"Everything in the basket of my cart is for your mom. Everything in the seat part of the cart is for me," Bella replied.

"It's no problem," Alice said as she methodically went through the list and marked everything off. "The only thing we are missing is that sixth bag of tater-tots but they didn't have any in the back and I'm sure we have a bag at home that we can use."

"I'm going to head through the check out first that way we can get my stuff paid for and out of the way," Bella said.

Alice nodded that she understood. The check out took longer than they wanted because one of the items wasn't ringing up correctly until the cashier finally called for the manager to help. Both carts were both piled high with bags of the fabric variety as Alice made sure to keep several in her car since she didn't like the use of plastic bags that were so flimsy and harmful to the environment.

The moment they pulled into the garage Esme was out of the house in her apron to help carrying in bags into the kitchen. Esme, Alice and Bella were the only ones to carry the bags inside even though Sasha and her family except Kate had been in the home as well.

Once everything was put away where Esme wanted it Bella go to work on Snowball's formula since he was bound to need it soon if not now. She found the bottle she had put the formula in and cleaned it out for another batch of formula. One she was done cleaned the bottle she quickly made another batch of the formula and even labeled it with a label maker she had found in Esme's study and wrote that the bottle contained formula for a kitten. She debated on setting up a hidden camera to see if who ever drank or dumped the formula but decided against it and went to feed her cat.

Snowball was awake and meowing when she reached Alice's room. Bella went right to work feeding him and he took each and every drop of formula Bella had for him in the bottle. Once she was done feeding Snowball Bella kept a hold of him as she quickly switched out his dirty towel for a clean one before putting him back into the box. Snowball quickly snuggled up to a fold in the towel and fell back asleep.

"Hey Bella, this got lost in one of those bags."

Bella looked up from Snowball to see Alice's cousin Kate standing in the door way holding up the little Garfield catnip toy she bought for Snowball. Bella stood up and walked over to Kate.

"You didn't have to bring it up. I would have gotten it later."

"It was no problem. I wanted an excuse to come up and see the little guy," Kate replied. "Garret and I fostered a litter of kittens that lost their mom to the harsh weather."

"Of course you can see him. I would let you hold him but he just fell back asleep."

"That is okay. He is so cute, I can not believe my sister threw a fit over this little guy," Kate said.

"How are the kittens you took care of doing?" Bella asked.

"We lost all but two and they were adopted into the same fur-ever family so they get to live their lives out with each other."

"That's nice but I have to say that..."

"I am nothing like my sisters, I know. You would not be the first person to tell me that," Kate replied. "Honestly the only reason Garret and I are even here for Christmas this year is because he got a great job offer in England and he couldn't pass it up."

"Good luck," Bella replied.

"Thanks, I am going to go and avoid my sisters by binge watching Game of Thrones with my husband before he watches another episode without me."

Bella just awkwardly waved as Kate left the room. Bella checked on Snowball one last time before heading back down to the kitchen to help Esme and Alice with their Christmas Casserole makings.

"Esme how come I never saw you make these while we were still in school?"

"Oh I made most of them over night since Alice and Edward were always so busy even during the holidays," Esme replied.

"One year she even used the ones for us that she had put away in the deep freezer," Alice said. "Are we doing the soup kitchen this year?"

"Yes, I have twenty casseroles ear marked for them and two for every one else."

"That is a lot of casseroles," Bella replied.

"That is why we must get to work," Esme said as she shoved an empty casserole pan in front of her. "Start pealing potatoes. Alice you start on the onions."

Eight hours later Bella, Alice and Esme were packing the casseroles two per bag with the family's name and address written on them and then placed into a card board box. The only difference was the soup kitchen order that had been placed directly into card board boxes.

"Are you sure you don't want us to help?" Alice asked.

"No, I need you girls to get started on breakfast. With Sashas dietary needs Christmas Eve dinner is harder to fix this year."

"We'll get it started," Alice said. "It's full English right?"

"Yes," Esme said as she climbed into the car. "There is a list taped to the refrigerator."

Esme waved and then drove out of the Cullen's front gate. Bella and Alice returned to the kitchen to start prepping for dinner which would be a full English breakfast a Cullen family tradition started by their great great grandmother when she game over from England. They were in the middle of making biscuits when the door bell rang.

"Bella could you get that?"Alice asked. "I'm elbow deep in dough over here."

"Sure, add a little more flour it's looking a little sticky," Bella said.

Bella opened the door to see a delivery man with an edible arrangement standing there.

"Is there an Isabella Swan home?" He asked.

"I'm Isabella," Bella replied.

The man shoved the arrangement into her hands and quickly ran back to his van before Bella could register what had happened. She looked closer at the arrangement and was happy to see a card among all of the cut up fruit. She carried the basket to the kitchen after closing the front door.

"Who is that for?" Alice asked.

"Me," Bella replied. "I think it's from my Secret Santa."

"Well hurry up and get the car out," Alice replied.

Bella did as Alice requested and pulled the simple envelope from inside the arrangement and pulled the beautifully drawn card from inside the envelope. There was no note but the image looked to be hand drawn.

"So who sent it?" Alice asked.

"I have no idea," Bella replied. "It's just a hand drawn picture."

Bella showed Alice the image before setting the arrangement down on a spare section of counter space. She plucked a chocolate covered Mellon ball from the arrangement and ate it before taking the card back from Alice.

"Kind of sucks that you don't know who sent it," Alice said. "But I think that card is a hint at who it might be."

"I'd say your right," Bella said. "What is left for us to make?"

"We've gotten everything but the meat but mom wants to wait until closer to dinner for us to start but you could make the gingerbread dough for the decorating contest."

"You and Edward did get into a big fight over it last year," Bella replied.

"He freaking cheated and you know he did," Alice replied.

Bella just rolled her eyes as she started work on the gingerbread cookie dough. She was making it batches as tiring to make one huge batch it didn't turn out right. Edward and Jasper showed up just after She and Alice finished pre making the breakfast dinner and the gingerbread cookie dough.

"Alice when is mom supposed to be back?" Edward asked.

"As soon as she is done making her deliveries and It'll be time for dinner by then," Alice replied. "And then after dinner it's the cookie contest and you are so going down this year. Where have you and Jasper been anyway? I have hardly seen you two."

"Mom had us go check on the cabin since we were able to head out their this year because of the storms," Edward said. "And you should ask Jasper how bad it was."

"It was crazy," Jasper added. "I'm going to shower to warm myself up. If we have to go out again we are taking the snowmobile."

"We don't have one," Edward said.

"You should get one," Jasper said as headed up the stairs. "It would make doing things at the cabin a whole lot easier."

"He's right," Bella said. "A snowmobile would make things easier but you would also have to make sure you had enough gas and or battery power to run it. You'd be SOL if any of them ran out."

"True, and you are so on with the cookie contest Alice." Edward said.

"Alice, I'm going to check on Snowball, the timer just went off," Bella said.

"Okay, let me know if you need anything."

Bella gave a quick reply and followed Jasper up the stairs. She caught sight of Jasper messing around on his laptop instead of taking the shower like he said he was going to do. She paused and knocked on the door frame causing him to jump.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," Bella said. "I thought you were going to take a shower?"

"I am, I was just looking up ideas on how to present my gift for Alice. My only idea didn't work out so now I'm at a loss of what to do."

"Look up idea's until you find one or an idea comes to you," Bella replied. "I'll help you as best I can but it has to come from you otherwise it won't mean anything."

"I knew I should have come up with a back up idea," Jasper replied. "The tree thing was all I had planned."

"I think she will love it no matter what you do and I would love to stay here and help you but I have a kitten to feed," Bella said.

"And I have a shower to take," Jasper replied. "I will come run an idea by you because I don't want to accidentally use something Alice secretly hates."

"Good idea," Bella said. "Don't forget you always got her family to ask."

"I'm trying to avoid that," Jasper replied.

"Good luck."

Bella left Jasper to his own devices and found Snowball awake and walking around his box calling out for food. Bella gently picked him up and began to feed him. Snowball took every thing in his bottle and would have taken more if Bella let him. She made sure he was free of gas and that his blanket was clean before placing him back into the box.

After taking care of Snowball she turned around and took care of herself by getting ready for dinner. She had heard Esme arrive home while she was feeding Snowball. Once she was ready Bella headed down stairs to help Esme with the rest of breakfast as she and Alice only worked on things that could be pre-made, the meat and a few other things had to wait until just before it was about to be served.

"Thank you for your help today," Esme said as she turned off the stove cooking the last bit of bacon.

"It was nothing," Bella replied. "I enjoy cooking."

"I can see that. Why didn't you go to a culinary school?"

"Cooking relaxes me and I didn't want it to become the thing that caused me to stress," Bella explained. "That could change in the future but for now its just something I love to do outside of work and school."

"You Bella, do cooking like I do gardening, why do you think our property looks like a mini-balmoral slash Windsor castle instead of you're average home."

"Oh I thought that you and Carlisle just wanted your own castle."

"That we did it took us years to build because we couldn't decided on what plan to use."

"It's a bit ostentatious if you ask me," Sasha said. "Twelve bedrooms and you only use four unless you invite family over for a holiday."

"We chose this one so it could be added to and turned into a bed and breakfast later," Esme said. "After all your brother and I want something we could do after we retire."

"Bed and breakfast is a good idea," Bella said. "It also explains some of the design choices."

"Thank you," Esme said as she started to carry the bacon out to the table.

Dinner went pretty quickly considering how long it took to make everything. Bella of course helped Esme clean up after breakfast dinner and prep the kitchen for baking the cookies. Bella watched as Esme took some of the dough measure it and cut it before placing the pieces on to a cookie sheet and placing it in the oven. Once every bit of the dough was baked they had to wait to decorate them as they were to hot.

Waiting for the cookies to cool gave them the opportunity to attend the candlelight service the church choose to put on this year for the people who wanted a Christmas Eve service without having to attend the midnight mass at the Catholic church. The service lasted nearly two hours with most of it being singing and the candle ceremony. The sermon was so short that Bella wasn't even sure what the subject of it was.

After arriving back at the Cullen home after the service the cookies were cooled enough to be decorated. Esme me quickly whipped up the icing before setting up for the cookie contest before letting anyone else into the kitchen.

"You have three different Gingerbread people to decorate as well as a ginger bread house nothing offensive maybe used," Esme said. "You now have an to decorate."

Esme pressed start on her iPhone's time and began decorating her own army of gingerbread people. Bella went basic with her design she couldn't help but watch at how compatible Alice and Edward got over a simple contest where all you one was the chance to be the first one to open the Christmas Eve gift. Even with Edward and Alice being so competing it was Jaspers quick but methodical decorating that had Bella watching him. He hid himself behind a spice rack that Esme always kept on the counter and he wouldn't let anyone look at what he was doing but when he reached into his pocket and pulled something shiny out Bella finally knew what she was doing. She picked up her plate of cookies and carried them over next to him under the guise of using the candy that was closest to him.

"Good work," Bella said looking closer at the cookies Jasper had been working with. "What gave you the idea?"

"I still had no idea what I was going to do until I saw Esme put these little balls of foil and placed the little guys arms against it."

"For what it's worth I think she will love it," Bella replied.

"I hope so."

"Hey what are you two talking about over there?" Alice asked.

"Nothing I was just telling Jasper that I think he has this contest in the bag," Bella replied.

"Oh really? Let me see."

"No peaking until your mom calls time," Jasper said. "I don't want Edward or you cheating."

"I don't cheat," Alice said. "Edward is the one that cheats."

"No one will be cheating," Esme said. "You have two minutes left on the clock."

Bella finished putting the candy on her cookies and set them up on the serving dish Esme had out and waited until for the clock to run out. Bella pulled out her phone and started to record. She knew Alice would want what is coming up to be filmed.

"Okay Alice show us your cookies," Esme said.

Alice lifted her plate up to show us her gingerbread people and the house. She had gone classic gingerbread. Next was Edward and his gingerbread men were smothered in green and red icing and candy.

"Okay Bella your turn," Esme said.

"I'm not in on this contest my cookies are already on the serving tray," Bella replied. "Jasper is next."

"Fine Jasper please show ups what you did," Esme said.

Jasper picked up his plate of decorated cookies and very carefully carried them over to where Esme and Alice were standing and set them down. He made sure that Alice couldn't see the cookie with the ring.

"How did you do that?" Alice asked.

"Those cookie videos are always popping up on my time line,"Jasper replied. "So I decided to give it a try doing this."

"Oh my they look like Santa and Mrs. Claus," Alice said. "Can I move them?"

"Of course," Esme said. "We need to put them on the tray."

Alice slowly moved the cookies onto the tray like her mother explained. She stopped as she started to move the second cookie. She spotted the ring for the very first time. She was speechless.

Jasper moved another cookie so the whole ring holder cookie could be seen. Alice jumped back in shock. Her hands went over her mouth as she said oh my g-d over and over again.

"So are you going to answer?" Jasper asked. "I'd hate to do all that work and not get one."

"Yes," Alice replied. "Of course I'll marry you."

Jasper took the ring off the cookie and put it on to Alice's shaking ring finger before kissing her. Bella stopped recording once Alice and Jasper pulled a part.

"Who knew about this?" Alice asked.

"I've only known for a few days," Bella replied. "He wanted my opinion on your ring."

"What is with the commotion?" Sasha asked. "Do any of you know what time it is?"

"Yes we don't so do you," Esme said. "I gave you a list of things that you were invited to join in on and you have turned down every chance to do so. Now if you don't mind its time to open the Christmas Eve gift I send yours put o your room."

"I'll go get dad from his office," Edward said.

Edward left for his father's office while Bella, Esme, Alice and Jasper sat down in the family room, Edward and Carlisle followed suit. Esme handed each person a box. Jasper was the first to open since he won the contest. After Jasper opened his gift of Batman footed pajamas for adults everyone else opened theirs going from oldest to youngest leavening Bella to be the last one to open her gift. Bella opened her box to see a set of Wonder Woman pajamas. Esme clearly went for a super hero theme for the pajamas this year. Edward got Captain America. Alice got Harley Quinn even though she was technically a villain. Carlisle got Wolverine while Esme got Jean Grey themed pajamas which had been kind of hard to find.


	26. Gift 25

Bella was the first one to wake up on Christmas morning and it was quite early to as the sky was still a bit dark as she made her way downstairs for a cup of coffee and a bottle for Snowball.

She moved herself and Snowball into one of the guest rooms because she knew that Alice and Jasper would most likely be celebrating their engagement. She started the fresh pot of coffee and took the bottle for Snowball upstairs and fed him. He was quite hungry and drank every drop he could draw from the bottle. She placed him back in his bed and headed back downstairs to see if the coffee was ready.

She was halfway through her first cup before she saw anyone else downstairs. And the first person downstairs was Esme so she could get started on the Christmas morning muffins. Bella quickly made her a cup of coffee and handed it off to her.

"Oh thank you. You didn't have to," Esme said. "We have a small black pot in the pantry for Sasha's coffee."

"I have no idea how to make her coffee. She had liked twenty-five steps to make it when it should only have four or six depending on how you take your coffee," Bella said. "She can make the coffee herself if she wants it."

"Oh I agree," Esme said.

"What muffins are you making this morning?" Bella asked.

"Peppermint, triple chocolate, banana, Lemon and the gluten-free blueberry vegan ones for Sasha," Esme said. "Last year she requested bran muffins and didn't eat a single one claimed she told me she was on a no-carb diet."

"Those were the muggle version of Hagrid's rock cakes," Bella said.

Esme gave her a weird look.

"Alice gave me one thinking it was one of the chocolate ones," Bella replied. "Do you want me to get the small coffee pot now?"

"No, Sasha can get that herself," Esme said. "I have balding to do and I am tired fo taking extra steps for her. If there are any muffins left over I am taking them and dropping them off at the soup kitchen later today."

"Okay," Bella replied. "Big silver bowls?"

"Yes, they should still be in the dishwasher from last night's dinner."

Bella retrieved the silver mixing bowls for Esme along with the muffin tins. She got to work on the muffin recipe that Esme put in front of her and quickly got them into the oven before starting onto the next one. Within an hour and a half, they had the muffins mixed, backed and cooling on the wire racks as everyone came down. Sasha's coffee was ready for her the moment she stepped into the kitchen. Esme usurped Bella out of the room and into the family room with the Christmas tree so Bella didn't get to see what Sasha's reaction was.

She sat down in an armchair farthest away from the tree since she was likely not to get much compared to the Cullen's but she was used to it and her dad had a gift waiting for her at home. She picked at her muffin as one by one the Cullens trickled into the room. The last one being Esme. Bella listened quietly as Esme explained how the gift opening was going to go and started to hand out gifts as she went. Soon everyone had a healthy stack of gifts in front of them including a stocking stuffed with little things.

"Carlisle dear, you are the oldest so you go first."

Carlisle picked a gift at random from his pile.

"It is from Alice," He said. "Kind of then but that doesn't mean anything where Alice is concerned because the book she got me last year didn't make it here until February forth."

He ripped the paper off and then slowly lifted the lid off the box and turned the gift outward so everyone could see a set of ties that looked like they could come from the set of Harry Potter. With the animal of each house sew into the tip of the tie. Next was Esme who opened a vegan spa day set from Sasha. The gift opening continued on like that with each person opening one gift at a time. Bella being the youngest was the last to do so.

Bella opened her smallest gift first as it was an envelope that had an Amazon gift card tucked inside. Her second box to be opened was a pair of gloves that you could wear and still used your phone without having to pull one off. Next box she opened held a cheap jewelry set from Walmart that actually looked kind of cute. After the jewelry set, she opened a flat box that held a pink silk sleep set that she more than likely never would wear because it wasn't to her taste and it was three sizes too small. She was told to open the next to gifts together and found a black handbag and a matching wallet from Prada. Next was her gift from Lush that Alice had gotten for her that Bella knew cost more than the limit they had agreed upon. After Alice's gift was a gift from her cousin Kate of a printed silk scarf that she had apparently designed herself. Her last gift was a Bluetooth record player from Jasper.

Overall Bella liked what she got. She was surprised that she hadn't gotten anything with Edward's name all over it. Last year he got her a large box of cheese-its because she was eating them all the time while she studied. Granted he could have been one of the gifts that she had gotten that didn't have a name on it but she had no idea and felt it would be quite weird to ask him if he got her something. She was saved by a text from her dad saying that he and Sue were both home and would be happy to accept her arrival at any time.

"My dad is home," She told Alice a few minutes a later.

"Give me a moment to help mom clean up and I'll take you home."

"That's alright. I need time to pack up anyway, and I have to feed Snowball one last time while we are here."

"Just let me know when you are ready," Alice said.

"I will."

Bella then carried all her gifts up to the room that she had taken over and set them down. She quickly packed her bag and made sure Snowball was okay before going to get the last of the formula she had pre-made for him to feed him. He looked like he was doing a lot better but Bella still wasn't sure if he would make it or not. She placed Snowball back into his box after feeding him and then placed the box into the bag along with everything else of his.

"Hey Bella, Alice said you might need a bag or two," Edward said as he held up two reusable shopping bags.

"I do thanks," Bella replied.

Bella took the bags from Edward and continued to pack up her things. She couldn't wait to get home and spend some time with her dad before she had to leave for New York in a couple of days.

"Bella could you please stop for a second I need to talk to you," Edward snapped. "Sorry I have just been trying to figure out how to talk to you for months now."

"I have trouble believing that. You have hardly said a word to me since that failed date several months ago."

"I've tried several times in fact. I can't seem to find the words when I'm talking but after I decided to give you the gifts it seemed easier but you didn't like that."

"Then why lie and say it wasn't you?" Bella asked.

"I've never denied it because you have never asked me," Edward replied.

"Yes, I did. I asked you if you were the one behind the gifts the night we went to the bar with Emmet, Jake, Jasper, Ben, and Angela got engaged that night I believe."

"I don't remember that night," Edward said. "I can't tell you if I said something or not."

"That doesn't matter Edward you have had more than one chance to tell me it was you. Why wait this long to say anything."

"Because there were times you were pissed off that money was being spent on you when all I wanted to do is show you that I am in LOVE WITH YOU!" Edward said.

Bella had no idea what to say to Edward so she just booked it out of the room and the house and into the woods. Edward was quick to go after her since she had not taken a coat or any other protection against the cold weather. He lost sight of her after she went through a thick line of trees. His heart nearly dropped when he heard her scream and then go quiet. He ran as fast as he could toward the spot he heard her voice coming from. She found her sitting against a pine tree clutching her ankle with her one good hand.

Without a word, Edward walked over and picked Bella up from the snowy ground and started back for the house. He took her back up to her room without anyone spotting them. He set her on the bed and went to get his dad so he could say if Bella needed to go to the hospital or not. Edward thought that she just had a mild sprain but he didn't think that Bella cared for his opinion at the moment. Once Bella was in the care of his father he went to his room to get the last gift he had for Bella. He pulled out a sheet of paper and began to write and before he knew it he had several pages. He took his latest letter and the last gift he had for Bella and put them into a shipping box and stuffed it with spare newspaper to keep them from moving around too much. He'd send it out tomorrow when the office re-opened.

By the time he was finished with everything, Bella had already gone home. She left nothing behind not even a scrap of wrapping paper that happened to be stuck to her gifts. Edward went back to his room and thought to himself before he grabbed his bag and packed it. He figured that he would head home to New York tomorrow after sending out his package to Bella. If she didn't want to talk to him after he tried talking to her then he would leave her alone. The ball was in her court now.

"Bella your home."

"I wanted to spend some time with you before I had to get back to New York," Bella replied. "

"When do you have to go back?" Charlie asked her.

"My flight leaves from SEA-TAC at six thirty in the morning on the twenty-ninth."

"I thought It would be good to get into my apartment and hunkered down by the time the New Year celebrations start."

"At least I have three more days with you," He replied. "Was your Christmas with the Cullen's okay?"

"It was great. I just wanted to get back and get Snowball settled in. I still have to head to Newton's to get a carrier for him."

"You should get it now, we are supposed to get snow and Ice tonight and you shouldn't be on the roads unless you have to be."

"Is there anything else I should get?" Bella asked.

"No house is fully stocked of any dry goods and water we may need to in case we are snowed in and Seth is going to stay at a friends house for the night and Leah is staying at her dad's old cabin in La Push and Sue is staying at the hospital since she is on call for the next two days because of the potential storms."

"What about you?" Bella asked.

"I'm on call as of seven pm tonight but I'm going to head in early after I finish eating that way Lukas can get home to his wife."

"She's due any day now right?" Bella asked.

"Yes and she's on bed rest until she has the baby."

Bella sat down and watched the recorded game with her Dad until it was time for him to leave. Bella left the house at the same time as her dad. He climbed into his cruiser and Bella climbed into the car she was using for now.

"Be safe dad and don't forget to check in with Sue," Bella said.

"I won't," He replied.

Her dad turned left heading toward the station and Bella turned right headed toward Newton's she found the smallest pet carrier she could find for her new kitten. It was a small fabric one with a stiff but removable bottom panel that made it easy to clean if necessary. She ignored Mike Newton's leering stare as she paid for it and quickly left once she had the receipt and carrier in hand.

Once she got home she made sure that she had everything packed. She even checked with the airline to make sure that she could take Snowball with her on her flight. She didn't think that things were going to work out for her and Edward and there for things would be awkward for her and Alice so she thought it would be a good idea to get her own place once she was back in New York.

Bella baked a frozen pizza and settled in for a night of true crime television. While waiting for the pizza to bake Bella downloaded the Zillow app and began her search for an apartment to rent. After hours of searching and four slices of pizza, she found a couple of places to check out once she got back into town. She knew that Jasper and Alice were likely to get their own place if not stay in the apartment that she and Alice had called home. She had no idea when Alice and Jasper planned to have their wedding. Alice marked ever important event down for them so there were several days they could choose from. Three hundred and sixty-five days if you count all of the other days that held no importance for them.


End file.
